Manila, March 15, 1998 - Sharon Cuneta has issued a long, strongly worded and emotional statement on the controversy surrounding her 88-year-old father, Pasay City Mayor Pablo Cuneta, whose physical and mental capability to run the city is now the subject of court proceedings (please read PHNO hometown and headline stories).
Here are some excerpts:
"I would have preferred to keep quiet but things have reached a point wherein I fell I should make people aware of my personal feelings. I personally feel that none of these would have happened if I had been there. It would have been over my dead body.
"I would never allow anybody to hurt him. If I were there, no one would have been able to use my father in any way. While some might find it important, I do not care at all about the things he once stood for like money and power. He is old and it pains me to imagine how he must fell about being treated this way, being subjected to indignity and ridicule because of greed and ambition.
"I wish I could go there and get him on the plane with me to Boston so we could be together here and I could take care of him and make him happy as he deserves to be.
"But I can't. So I am making my plea. Please lay off my father. He is a great man. He has served his people well. He is now 88 years old and therefore should be allowed to spend his retirement years surrounded by love and with the honor that befits him."
Sharon's mother had been taking the ailing and wheelchair-bound Mayor Cuneta to his office at the Pasay City Hall several times a week in an attempt to prove that the old city executive is still in command of his senses and should not be stripped of his post.
Mrs. Elaine Cuneta is running for Congress as Representative of Pasay City, the same post she unsuccessfully ran for in 1995.
Reported by: Sol Jose Vanzi
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