'Captain Walis Tambo' Arrested in Virginia

 Volume 2, Issue No. 65

OPINION/COMMENTARY

/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /

. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . . . .

 

 Our latest as of Tuesday, June 1, 2021 

~ More than four months after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has traced the whereabouts of an alleged insurrectionist in a neighborhood in Norfolk, Virginia. On Friday, May 28, agents apprehended a Filipino-American who had masqueraded as a comic folk hero by wearing a Captain America attire and carrying a signature broom called walis tambo, a cleaning tool popular in the Philippines. With the getup, he earned the snide monicker Captain Walis Tambo.

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CAPTAIN WALIS TAMBO

FBI Ensnares Fil-Am Trump Supporter

By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ

Editor, The Filipino Web Channel

TORONTO - A tip, a phone call, and a Facebook post have led the Federal Bureau of Investigation to raid a house in a Norfolk, Virginia neighborhood and take a suspected insurrectionist into custody.

On Friday, May 28, the FBI announced the arrest of a Filipino-American identified as Kene Brian Lazo, and pointed to him as the man behind a Captain America costume who had joined in the riotous assault of the US Capitol on January 6. (More info here: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/capitol-violence#Seeking-Info).

The attire plus the broom (or walis tambo in the Tagalog vernacular) he carried has earned him the snide monicker "Captain Walis Tambo". The walis tambo is a popular cleaning tool in the Philippines whose origin is traced to the northern mountain city of Baguio.

The FBI said Lazo is facing four federal crimes: entering a restricted building without lawful authority, engaging in disorderly and disruptive conduct in that restricted building, engaging in disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

Before his arrest, Lazo was number 3 out of 1,084 individuals whose photos appeared on a long list the FBI has widely published to get public help in identifying them. At least 450 people have been formally charged.

(Full, detailed story at: https://www.pilotonline.com/government/nation/vp-nw-kene-lazo-capitol-riot-20210528-lsgykxnrlzftvek5pyret7rubm-story.html).

The broom was an easy giveaway that Captain Walis Tambo is a Filipino. But his real identity had been the subject of much speculation, especially among Manila newspapers.

In California, Rodel Rodis, a Filipino lawyer based in San Francisco, had identified him as "Dong Abay". 

A published article in Daily Tribune, a Philippine paper, quoted Rodis as saying: "We now know the name of the FilAm insurrectionist. (Thanks to Gemma Nemenzo). He's Dong Abay".

Rodis has since recanted his claim, according to news reports. "My friend, Gemma Nemenzo, responded that it was Dong Abay, so I posted his name," he explained. "My apologies to Dong Abay," he added in a Facebook post.

In response, the real Dong Abay, a singer, songwriter, poet, and rock icon is inconsolable. He tweeted: "I don't fucking care if you're an immigration lawyer or a privileged Filipino-American because I'm a rockstar".

He said he is determined to pursue a cyber libel case against both Nemenzo and Rodis. (Related story at: https://filwebchannelmagazine.blogspot.com/2021/01/filipinos-among-those-in-attempted-coup.html).

"This is to inform the public," Abay posted on Facebook, "that I’m pursuing a cyber libel case to be administered by a U.S. lawyer against Gemma Nemenzo and Rodel Rodis for spreading fake news.” (Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved).