“Nagdilim lang talaga paningin ko (I just snapped).”
This was how Vhon Martin Tanto, black-eyed and handcuffed, summed up the moment that suddenly changed the course of his life—and ended that of Mark Vincent Garalde, the man he shot dead in a road altercation in Quiapo, Manila, on the night of July 25.
Presented at the Manila Police District (MPD) headquarters a day after he surrendered in Masbate province, Tanto publicly apologized to the Garalde family, whose members were present in a press conference held by Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa.
The 39-year-old Tanto, who was also revealed to be a reservist Army private when the MPD tagged him as the suspect in the road rage incident, later underwent inquest proceedings at the Department of Justice.
He was formally accused of murder and frustrated murder. The second charge stemmed from the case of Rocel Bondoc, an 18-year-old college student who was hit by a stray bullet in the back when Tanto shot Garalde several times.
What video didn’t show
Facing reporters at the MPD, Tanto gave his version of what happened, from what took place off-camera to their heated verbal exchanges.
He said he was passing through the area that night looking for a gas station after coming from Bulacan. His 4-year-old daughter was asleep in the back seat. (A Manila police investigator earlier said he was with a woman in the vehicle.)
He was exiting Vergara Street and Garalde was heading toward Ayala Bridge when they almost hit each other, causing Tanto to suddenly veer to the right and step on the brakes. He then honked his horn at Garalde.
‘Kuya, I’m sorry’
I thought that was just OK with him,” Tanto recalled in Filipino. “I didn’t know he chased me. When I saw him doing this, I stopped, rolled down my window and said, ‘Kuya (brother), I’m sorry.’ We didn’t hit each other, but bicycles should stick to the side, especially since they don’t have lights.”
But Garalde, he said, snarled back with an insult—“G–o ka!”—and called him an “arrogant driver.”
They then traded invectives, which awakened Tanto’s daughter and made her cry.
“He told me that if I’m brave enough I should get out of the car. So I did…and we started fighting,” Tanto said. He conceded being knocked hard—“napuruhan ako”—and that he “almost died” when Garalde had him in a headlock.
After Garalde released the “weakened” Tanto, “I picked up my slippers and went back to the car.”
In the video, Garalde at this point was seen walking toward the car and appeared to be extending his hand inside the vehicle. According to Tanto, Garalde “was going to shake my hand because he saw the Philippine Army sticker on the car. Perhaps he realized that I was a soldier.”
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