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Tuesday, January 21, 2003
Oyson: Who is Perry McNeely?
By Manuel N. Oyson Jr.
Counter Punch
The first time I met Perry McNeely face to face was on June 1, 2001 during a press conference at the Cebu Waterfront Hotel-Lahug for the so-called “Rumble at the Waterfront” between Lawrence Ngobeni of South Africa and RP’s Tirso Albia for the vacant WBC International lightweight crown. It was the first international boxing match in Cebu since 1989.
The bout ended in a controversial draw. McNeely later told me that he lost something like P2.5 million in the promotion which drew 2,500 spectators. He did not cry about it because all he was interested in was to help promote professional boxing in Cebu where he has lived for about 10 years already.
DISMISSED. The next thing we heard about him is that he was picked up by the Bureau of Immigration, imprisoned at the BID cell in Manila for deportation. Charges were brought against him for rape (3), eight cases for child abuse and one case for grave threats. All these cases, he said, were pure harassment, instigated “by my enemies”.
The three rape cases have been dismissed at the Cebu City Prosecutor’s Office. All eight child abuse cases were also dismissed by same office and Judge Ferdinand Marcos. Only a case for simple seduction is pending resolution before Judge Mamerto Coliflores of the Cebu City Municipal Court. He is hopeful about the outcome of the case.
VISIT. The case for grave threats was filed by Randy Lee Campbell a.k.a. Brian Olsen. An AFP story in The Freeman yesterday said that Campbell was arrested recently by immigration agents inside a bar in Angeles City. Campbell was charged with pedophilia in October 2001, posted bail and subsequently went into hiding. The story said he is to be deported back to the U.S.
I visited McNeely at his BID detention cell in Mandaue City yesterday. He does not understand why BID Commissioner Andrea Domingo has refused to grant him bail. His plight reached columnist Recah Trinidad of the Philippine Daily Inquirer who wrote about it in his column last Dec. 16 and even called the attention of Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr. about it.
Yesterday in the same paper, Trinidad again intoned “a second call to the immigration commissioner.”
For a man who has been charged with rape, child abuse, and violation of the law on mail-order bride, Perry does not look like it. He is a Roman Catholic from New Orleans. He served in Vietnam as fighter pilot for five years. When he retired, out of 10,000 pilot applicants he was only one of 16 former pilots hired by TWA. When he left TWA, he was given a “Flight Operations Meritorious Achievement Award” out of 50,000 employees. Only six of them were rewarded.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I know I am innocent. Why should I not be granted bail?” – Perry McNeely
(January 21, 2003 issue)
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