Repost: Diego Loyzaga Airs Side on Alleged Mauling Incident in Taguig

Source: www.push.abs-cbn.com

Diego Loyzaga finally gave his side on his involvement in a parking lot brawl last March 13 outside the Palace Pool Club in Taguig City. 

The actor is accused of ‘harassing’ the girlfriend of a certain Paolo Lopez, which began the fight. 

“Unang-una hindi ko po alam kung sino itong girl na to, I didn’t know that she was the girlfriend of one of the Lopez brothers. Inconsistent po yung nababasa kong accusations sa akin. Una daw mali daw yun pagkabeso ko sa kanya. Because we were leaving at the time, we were saying good bye, so first beso good bye then another statement inakbayan ko siya. There’s another statement I harassed her in a sexual way. So it’s already three inconsistent stories. I really don’t know. 

“Ang alam ko, may nagapapicture sa akin na babae and right after that may Lopez brother na nagreact sa akin, kinuha niya po ako, hinawakan niya po ako sa chest and he dragged me, pushed me down to the ground. My reaction right away was self-defense was I stood up, I lifted my arms up to stop any more punches from hitting me. I was afraid if I stay on the floor dudumugin po ako. This all happened inside Pool Club,” Diego began his statement.  

Diego then said he asked Paolo to talk with him outside the club. 

“So after this scene, I stood up and Paolo Lopez and I just looked at each other. Wala naman nagsimula ng gulo, walang gulo na nangyari. Pero siyempre lumapit yun mga bouncers, inawat kaming dalawa. Pero we were just civil. I looked him straight in the eye and I said to him, ‘bro let’s not cause a scene here. Let’s go outside and talk and properly talk, imbes na magkaaway. I really don’t know what happened. I took a photo with somebody and all of a sudden nasa sahig na kami. 

“So we went outside, and as we were going outside, a lot of people followed us, mga hindi namin kilala. There was a lot of random people who joined in, mga nakikisawsaw, I don’t know if they were part of the Lopez’ brothers group, or they went outside to see if there’s going to be a fight, basta nung paglabas namin, Paolo Lopez and I were able to talk. As seen in their statement, nagusap kami and everything was fine. We spoke civilly, I said, ‘Bro it was a misunderstanding, I’m sorry’ nag-apologize ako, nag-apologize din siya, we shook hands and even hugged.” 

However, another group got involved in their issue, which started another fight. He said a certain Paolo Jaramillo beat up another friend of his because Diego’s pal was rude to his girlfriend. 

“Right after this happened, simultaneously while we were talking I saw to the side of me, left of me, may rambulan na nangyayari. And I found out it was my friend and I ran towards this fight that was happening and I saw my friend JC Arroyo na nakipagsuntukan sa isa pang matandang lalaki. Which caused my friends and I to wonder why there was a different guy involved in the fight. When it was supposed to be me and Paolo na maguusap sa labas. So we came to the conclusion na may nagtawag ng resbak or there was a planned thing na dapat magsuntukan sa labas ng parking lot. Dun na kami parang naging emotional, if you can say emotional kami. So tinignan ko si Paolo and asked him ‘You know who that person was?’ kasi imposible na coincidence lang na may taong nagaabang sa amin. And it was just not only 1. There was a Paolo Jaramillo on the scene spotted by my friends standing 10-15 meters behind me with something behind his back. My friends was stating he had a weapon. When he was asked kung may weapon nga siyang hawak, he denied it. He said it was just his keys. Pero when asked why was he hiding it behind his back, he actually didn’t say anything anymore.”

When all hell broke loose, Diego said he was dazed after being hit at the side of his face by a guy he did not know. 

 “I was still questioning Paolo[Lopez], looking at Paolo [Lopez], I was hit from the side, nasaktuhan ako sa ilong. I was hit once in the nose and I closed my eyes, I looked down, saw a lot of blood, it dazed me. I was hit again sa panga, napahulog na po ako dun. And that was how I broke my hand. It was stated by the doctor that the bone fracture itself was putting weight on the hand. So I was on the ground, I was bleeding out and I didn’t see anything anymore. Wala na po ako nakita, di ko po nakita kung sino na yung nagrarambulan. I just saw a lot of people falling, fighting, throwing punches. And then my friend saw me in my state. I was selfless. Nakaganun na lang po ako, nakaupo sa sahig and dinampot ako ng kaibigan ko, Joseph, he got me and picked me up and said ‘get in a taxi first, stay there, you’re bleeding too much. We walked around where the mob was fighting nakasakay ako ng kotse and we waited for my driver to pick me up,” Diego related futher.

The 20-year-old actor wanted to make it clear that he had nothing to do with the commotion that happened.  

“It’s one thing I really want to get clear is that I am being blamed for what happened to the brothers. I honestly don’t know what happened to the brothers. I don’t know I didn’t see what happened to them. I know Paolo Lopez got beaten up really bad, but Wilbur Lopez, I don’t know where he went. And yung statement nila na lumabas sa PEP, it’s so inconsistent to the other stories they are saying. And it came from the sister, who was not present that night. 

“And also this girl Jazz, the girlfriend of one of the Lopez brothers, questioned by my friend kung may nagawa ba ako sa kanyang masama, wala naman daw. Nadapa lang daw ako, the way I made her beso, I kinda fell on her, so it was really just a misunderstanding. And that was already proven, tapos na yung problema na yun sa amin ni Paolo [Lopez] It started all over again when we saw our friend fighting and I couldn’t do anything and I was hit on the side of my face, I was on the floor, I was bleeding out, sumakay ako ng taxi then I went to the hospital.” 

Diego also vehemently denied ordering his friend to hit the Lopez brothers. 

“Sino ba ako para magutos sa mga kaibigan ko, na mangulpi ng ibang tao? And bakit makikinig yun kaibigan ko sa akin? Now I can understand if my friend got upset when he saw my other friend get beaten up at yun yung dahilan kung bakit siya nanuntok ng ibang tao. But never ever did it come out of my mouth na sinabi ko ‘sapakin mo yun,’ or anything along those lines. I did not give a signal, I did not give ano mang signal sa kanya na sapakin o saktan si Paolo [Lopez.] Ako mismo po, I did not lay a finger on Paolo Lopez or his brother. Of course after yun sa nanyari sa loob ng Pool Club. Sa labas ng Pool Club, I did not get into a fight with them or with anybody. I was hit from the side and it is actually upsetting I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t help any of my friends, cause I was bleeding out and my friends thought of me first and sinakay nila ako sa taxi and took me home right away. 

“So I deny. I completely deny the accusation that I said sapakin nila yun guy na yun. Hindi ko po ginawa yun. That’s too farfetched. That’s too ridiculous,” he said.

Diego added he was probably accused of starting the fight because he was the only one recognizable in the group. 

“The only reason why is they can’t name anybody else na nakaaway nila kundi ako. So ako lang po yung personality na sigurado nila na si Diego Loyzaga. Pero may nagawa ba ako sa kanila? Wala. Wala po akong sinaktan, wala po akong sinapak. Yes sa loob ng Pool Club nagkagulo kami because of self-defense I just tried to stop him from hitting me because I didn’t know what was going on. But hanggang doon lang yun. And we solved that, it was done. But then nagkarambulan ulit so why am I getting blamed for what happened to him? I never gave the signal for my friend to hit him and it was never my intention for that to happen to them. 

“Actually kinaibigan nga namin sila. We met in the club,  we asked them to sit with us, we drank together, it was a fine night and nun nag-alisan na kami, the girl had a photo with me and I dunno it ticked him off maybe they were fighting, I honestly don’t know. Basta one event led to the other, it happened so fast. I didn’t see any more what happened. Honestly, I was worried about my nose being broken, akala ko talaga bali yung ilong ko, hindi bali, maraming lacerations, my hand was broken that’s it.”  

In the end Diego asked for people to hear both sides of the story first before they started making judgements about him. 

“There’s always two sides of the story. Nasaktan ako sa mga ang bilis naniwala. That they would think I would harm a person 10 versus 2, this is so unfair. Hindi ako ganung klaseng tao na kaya ko gawin sa kapwa tao na kinaibigan pa nga namin.” 

He also shared the lesson he and his friends learned from the incident. 

“We just defended ourselves. Lesson learned is to keep away from things like this in the future. We really learned from this moment and violence really isn’t the answer, that’s why Paolo [Lopez] and I talked.”