FORMER Commission on Elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon said she is preparing possible legal action against the person who recorded and posted a viral video of her shouting inside a Makati mall, saying the uploader violated her right to privacy.
“That video violated my right to privacy. She committed a crime and she should delete her post. Mas maganda mag-avoid na kayo ng legal trouble,” Guanzon said.
Guanzon earlier filed a complaint with the Makati police against the man who allegedly insulted her during the incident in a mall in Barangay Poblacion over the weekend.
She accused him of unjust vexation and grave oral defamation following a heated exchange that was captured in the circulating video.
Footage online showed Guanzon raising her voice at a man and a woman whom she later described as a married couple.
She said the confrontation began after she coughed while in line, prompting the couple to call her out. Guanzon said she was not ill and only coughed because she had just eaten spicy noodles.
“Spicy food ko, napaubo ako. Pag-ubo ko nag-turn agad ako sa right. Hindi ko sila inubuhan,” she said.
According to Guanzon, the woman confronted her and told her to leave the mall because she was coughing. “Sabi niya, ‘You are sick, you should not be in the mall, you have to leave.’ Sabi ko, ‘Excuse me? Are you from Rockwell?’ Sabi ko, foreigner ito kasi wala namang Pilipinong gaganyan sa senior,” she said.
She added that her anger rose when the man insisted she exit the mall. “Sabi ko sa kanya, ‘You have no right. If your wife is sick, you get out of the mall.’ Sabi niya, ‘No, you have to leave.’”
Guanzon said she then addressed nearby shoppers, asking whether the man was correct to tell her to leave. She said the crowd responded no, which she used to back her position during the argument.
The confrontation lasted around five minutes before mall security escorted both sides to the office.
Guanzon said the matter could have ended quietly if the man had apologized. “Ayaw ngang humingi ng tawad. Yung asawa humingi ng tawad bago ko siya pinapunta sa security,” she said. “’Yun lang naman hinihingi ko, video ng apology.”
Guanzon also addressed her remarks about luxury brands heard in the viral clip. She said the comments came after feeling insulted by the couple. “Sinabi ko lang ’yon kasi nabubuwisit na ako. Matapobre ka. They looked at me up and down, ‘You can’t afford to buy a mask?’” she said.
