Korina to Vico: Post about ‘P10-M’ interview is cyberlibel
The camp of news anchor and magazine show host Korina Sanchez-Roxas, professionally known as Korina Sanchez, pushed back against a social media post made by Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto which questioned why some veteran journalists agree to do shows featuring controversial public figures and allow their credibility to help sanitize the image of their subjects—allegedly for a hefty fee.
The two programs hosted by Sanchez issued a joint statement on Friday after Sotto posted videograbs of her and broadcaster Julius Babao interviewing the couple Curlee and Sarah Discaya. The post also had Sotto suggesting that the interviews may have involved payments of as high as P10 million.
Sarah Discaya lost to Sotto in the Pasig mayoral elections in May.
Sotto’s post, which has drawn over 140,000 reactions on Facebook as of this writing, referenced the ongoing probe of flood control projects for alleged corruption, where Discaya-owned companies have cropped up as among the biggest contractors.
The Discayas, which Sanchez presented in her program as “a rags-to-riches life story,” own two of the top 15 companies that President Marcos earlier identified as having cornered some P100 billion worth of flood control contracts, or about 20 percent of the projects nationwide.
Hiding in ‘gray areas’
In his post, Sotto asked: “Bago tanggapin ng mga kilalang journalists ang alok para mag-interview ng Contractor na Pumapasok sa Politika, hindi ba nila naisip na, ‘Uy teka, ba’t kaya handa ’to magbigay ng 10 million* para lang magpa-interview sa akin?’”
(Before prominent journalists agree to interview contractors who are also into politics, do they ask themselves first, “Wait, why are they ready to give P10 million just to be interviewed by me?”)
Sotto’s mention of “P10 million” came with an asterisk and a disclaimer: “not an exact figure pero alam n’yo na [but you already get this].”
Though such an interview is “not technically illegal,” said Sotto, “at the very least it should be considered shameful and violative of the spirit of their code of ethics.”
The journalist may “hide in gray areas” by claiming that he or she is doing “more of lifestyle lang” (only a lifestyle feature), but “They rose to national prominence as broadcast journalists/news personalities” on the strength of their reputation and credibility, Sotto added.
Joint statement
That same reputation and credibility are what they end up lending to the corrupt in exchange for money, he lamented.
Sotto pointed out that “corruption is systemic” in the country. “It permeates into every sector of society, not just government,” he said.
In response, the two programs of Sanchez—“Korina Interviews” and “Rated Korina”—issued a joint statement denying there was a P10-million payment involved and threatening legal action against the mayor.
“Our host, Ms. Korina Sanchez Roxas, has her esteemed place in the industry for very sturdy reasons,” it said, stressing that her programs take pride in the standards they uphold in storytelling and production.
“All content aired is transparent and meets the strict standards of the airing stations and is approved by the station management. There is no such thing as a P10 million placement for an interview. This is simply not true,” it said.
The statement explained, though, that “payments for certain businesses, such as that of the Discayas, products, personalities, companies or politicians, much like payments made for advertisements … goes to the network with an official receipt issued to the client.”
‘Public interest’
Many personalities have been featured on both shows over the past decades, it said, including Sotto’s relatives— Sen. Tito Sotto, Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chief Lala Sotto, and his vice mayor, Dodot Jaworski.
“It is the same for several other magazine shows and interviews of many hosts from all the networks. In the case of the Sara and Curlee Discaya interview, pinag-uusapan sila [they are being talked about]. Their sudden prominence in the public eye makes for public interest. We do not presume our interviewees as evil nor as angels,” the statement added.
“Their rags-to-riches life story is their story to tell. It was aired walang dagdag at walang bawas [without embellishment or deletion]. Should there have been anything untrue about what they claimed, it was and is up to the accuser to point this out,” it added.
Parting shot
Sanchez’s camp also said the programs had reached out “a few times” to Vico Sotto and even informed his mother, veteran actress Coney Reyes, of their intention to interview the mayor for his reaction to the Discayas interview, but the mayor “always declined.”
As a parting shot, the statement warned that “malicious insinuations posted on Facebook, and which publicly besmirches the reputation” of the two shows or their host, “clearly constitute cyberlibel.”
“While we fully respect freedom of speech and opinion and the platforms in which these are aired and posted, there is such a thing as thoughtful restraint, which benefits truth and fairness,” it added.
