‘Juan Direction’ star Daniel Marsh accused of mauling cabbie

TV5’s acting boy group Juan Direction. Daniel Marsh is in the middle. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—A taxi driver has accused a member of “Juan Direction,” a group of foreigners with Filipino blood who appear on a documentary-style reality show on TV5, of mauling him and damaging his cab on July 23.

Edward Villanueva, 49, a resident of Sta. Cruz, Manila, and driver of a World Taxi cab, told the Inquirer in a phone interview that around 5 a.m., a foreigner later identified as Daniel Marsh flagged him down in front of the Prive Luxury Club at Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, and asked to be taken to Tivoli Garden Residences in Mandaluyong City.

Along the way, the Fil-Irish TV personality complained that he had lost his wallet at the club and asked if he could ride for free. But when they arrived at the condominium building, he asked how much the fare was.

Villanueva told him that it was P70.50, to which Marsh replied: “I’m free, right?” When the cab driver said no, the actor maintained that he was “not joking” and alighted from the taxi.

Villanueva said he was surprised when Marsh opened the taxi’s door and tossed him a P100 bill. Marsh then banged the door shut and started kicking the trunk and bumper of his vehicle.

Villanueva said he alighted from the vehicle but as soon as he did, Marsh hit him in the face and body and shouted invectives at him. The cab driver said he did not fight back as Marsh appeared to be drunk. At this point, some witnesses asked the guards at the condominium to pacify the foreigner.

A condo resident who witnessed the incident confirmed the taxi driver’s story, saying that she heard loud banging and saw “a foreign-looking young man, cursing, kicking and [hitting] the taxi he [had] alighted from.”

When the driver stepped out of the car, “he (Marsh) punched him, cursed him and said, ‘You’re trying to rip me off, who are you? You’re nothing, you don’t know me, don’t f**k with me!’”

In an interview on “Aksyon,” TV5’s news program, Marsh said that the altercation started when Villanueva tried to rip him off by not immediately turning on the taxi meter and demanding that he pay P500 for the ride.

“He was really insisting on it. But that was way too much, seriously,” Marsh said, adding that it was Villanueva who first became violent.

Daniel MARSH Contributed photo

Marsh, who claimed that he was “traumatized” by the incident, also denied that he refused to pay the fare, saying that he borrowed P100 from a friend to do so.

“I don’t believe a person should do that whether he’s a taxi driver or anyone,” he added. “This is not about taxi drivers; this is about a person trying to exploit someone because he thought I was a foreigner.”

Born and raised in Ireland by a Cebuana mother and an Irish father, Marsh first visited the Philippines in 2007 and has since lived in the country. He spent his first three years in Cebu and then moved to Manila where he now works as an actor and host for TV5.   With a report from Allan Policarpio

Originally posted at 7:58 pm | Thursday, July 24, 2014

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