Road rage suspect Vhon Tanto admitted Saturday that his temper got the best of him when he shot cyclist Mark Vincent Geralde in Manila.
Tanto made headlines and enraged the public when a CCTV footage surfaced showing him shooting Geralde several times following a fistfight in Manila’s Quiapo district last Monday.
In an exclusive interview with ABS-CBN News, Tanto claimed Geralde acted arrogantly. He said Geralde’s confrontational stance resulted in their fistfight and the fatal shooting.
Tanto said, the altercation started when his car and Geralde’s bike nearly had a collision.
”Binaba ko yung salamin sa kanang banda sabi ko, ‘kuya pasensya ka na kasi di ko naman sinasadya at tsaka di naman tayo nagpang abot’. Sabi ko sa kanya dapat mag-iingat kayo kasi dapat ang bisikleta, sa gilid lang. Bigla akong minura, sabi niya ‘g**o ka pala eh.’ Sabi ko kuya huwag kang magmura. Hanggang sa patuloy pa rin ang pagmumura niya,” Tanto said.
(I rolled down my window on the right side and said, ‘Kuya, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean [to cut you off] and we didn’t hit each other anyway.’ I told him he should take care because bicycles should only be on the side of the road. He cursed at me, he said, ‘you’re a jerk.” I told him, ‘Kuya, don’t curse. He kept on cursing.)
”Nung sinabi niya na, ‘gusto mo basagin ko pa ang salamin mo’, dun na ako napikon. Tsaka may dugo na ako noon kasi may tumamang matigas na bagay sa akin. Kaya hilo hilo na ako noon…
“Nag-sorry na ako sa kanya, minumura pa rin ako. Nag-pangabot na kami. Llamado siya, matangkad ba. Hanggang sa nilock niya ako. Makikita naman po sa CCTV.“
(When he said, ‘do you want me to break your window/mirror?’ that’s when he hit a nerve. And I was already bleeding then because something hard hit me. I was already dizzy…
I told him I was sorry, but he kept on cursing at me. We fought. He had the advantage, he was tall. He headlocked me. You can see it on the CCTV.)
Tanto arrived at the Manila Police District at 6:52 a.m. following an overnight trip from Masbate where he was taken by the police into custody.
