Manila, Philippines – Binura na ng online news site na Inquirer.net ang mga istorya tungkol sa kontroberyal na rape case kay 80’s star Pepsi Paloma bilang pagtupad sa hiling ni Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.
Simula kahapon, Miyerkules (July 4, 2018), kapag pinindot ang mga artikulo na “The Rape of Pepsi Paloma,” at “Was Pepsi Paloma murdered?” sa panulat ng columnist na si Rodel Rodis at ang “Tito Sotto denies whitewashing Pepsi Paloma rape case” ni Totel de Jesus, ang mga mambabasa ay ididirekta sa statement ng news agency.
“The articles on the Pepsi Paloma case are currently under review and are unavailable at the moment,” sabi sa statement.
Sa isang sulat na may petsa na May 29, hiniling ni Sotto kay Inquirer President Paolo Prieto burahin ang mga artikulong nabanggit dahil sa “malicious imputation of a crime” laban sa kaniya.
“These kinds of unverified articles have been negatively affecting my reputation for the longest time,” sabi ni Sotto sa sulat.
Ang request na ito ni Sotto at isinapubliko ni Rodia noong June.
Kasunod nito, naglabas rin ng statement ang National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) kung saan kinundena nito si Sotto dahil sa, “brazen attempt to suppress freedom of the press and of expression.”
Tinawag pa nito ang petsa na July 4 bilang “one of the darkest days in the annals of Philippine journalism” dahil sa pagkakatanggal ng mga artikulo at pinintasan din ang Inquirer.net dahil sa pagtupad nito sa hiling ni Sotto.
“It is the day when the online arm of the newspaper long regarded as one of the beacons of press freedom in the country caved in to the demands of a two-bit comedian turned Senate President,” sabi NUJP.
“It is the day when Inquirer.net disowned its own editorial policies and standards—and its writers—by willingly taking down stories it had posted as far as four years ago that harp on Vicente Sotto III’s alleged role in the cover up of the rape of Pepsi Paloma,” it added.
“At a time when freedom of the press and of expression has come under the worst attacks since the Marcos regime, this humiliating self-censorship betrays not only the spirit in which the Inquirer was founded, it betrays a profession whose practitioners have fended and continue to fight off all attempts to muzzle it even if it has cost our ranks 185.” (Remate News team)
“Nakuha sila sa barko na patay or tumalon kasi yung iba sa dagat. Either nalunod or may mga nakita rin kami na signs na yung iba ay sunog din,” dagdag pa niya.
Ipinadala na rin ang BRP Cape Engaño, BRP Tubbataha at MCS 3007 upang tumulong sa search and rescue operations.
