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| Vol. XX No. 47 |
January 31, 2001 |
Virac, Catanduanes |
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The Catanduanes Tribune Rawis, Virac Catanduanes, Philippines - 5001 Tel. No.: (052) 811-1267 or 811-2640 Fax No.: (052) 811-1267 E-mail:
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Publisher-Editor Edwin A. Gianan |
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Advertising- Circulation Manager Simeon G. Cueno |
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Web Master: Calgary, Canada |
Major Developments
Solon
draws flak for
buying
Inquirer copies
Rep.
Leandro B. Verceles, Jr. drew the ire of the reading public last week when
he reportedly bought all copies of the Jan. 24, 2001 issue of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer containing allegations that the solon tried to
bribe probers of the National Bureau of Investigation.
Reliable
sources say a close aide of the congressman, acting upon the orders of
Verceles who was in Manila, reportedly contacted the sole distributor of
the popular daily newspaper and "asked" him to sell the entire
300 copies of the Jan. 24 issue to the solon.
They
added that the newspaper dealer could do nothing but to comply with the
request. The three bundles of Inquirer copies were offloaded from the
Asian Spirit flight and brought to the dealer's house where they were
picked up by the solon's aide.
The
copies were sold to Verceles' aide for the street price of P19, with 10
newsboys losing a total of P900 in potential income that day and hundreds
of Inquirer readers missing their daily dose of scandal, violence,
political intrigue, public service and entertainment news.
Instead
of keeping `secret' the news item about the alleged bribe attempt, the
buying up of Inquirer copies in Virac set the rumor mill buzzing and
readers reaching for their phones to contact friends in Manila who have
read the Jan. 24 Inquirer.
As
a result, the denial of the public's right to information achieved the
opposite. Within hours, faxed and xeroxed copies of the controversial
article were being circulated around offices in the capital town, fuelling
speculations that there was truth to the allegations. Some searched the
Internet edition of the PDI but came up with zilch as the Across the
Nation section is not included in the website.
The
article written by Michael Lim Ubac and Volt Contreras reported that a top
NBI offical claimed that Verceles had tried to bribe NBI agents to stop
them from linking him to P1.8 billion in ghost infrastructure projects in
Catanduanes. It was not all about the bribe attempt as half of the article
was devoted to the solon's denial of the bribery try.
That
afternoon, in an effort to contain the damage, the congressional office
based in Verceles' residence here circulated a press statement denying the
allegations and attacking instead Governor Hector S. Sanchez for what the
solon called a "calculated smear campaign" to embarrass him and
to draw attention away from the governor's own anomalies.
Concerned Inquirer readers have reportedly called up PDI management to complain about their not receiving their Jan. 24 issues.
