INQUIRER.net management has decided to temporarily make the opinion pieces on the Pepsi Paloma case unavailable on the site pending a review of the allegations made there by US-based writer Atty. Rodel Rodis, who is not an employee of INQUIRER.net but who has been contributing opinion pieces to us once a month.
Sen. Vicente Sotto III, in a letter to INQUIRER.net on May 29, 2018, made a formal request for the pieces to be taken down, claiming they were unverified and “have been negatively affecting my reputation for the longest time.” The opinion pieces had been posted on the site since March 2014.
Like what we do to similar requests on stories posted on our site, we asked Atty. Rodis to substantiate some of the allegations he made on his contributed pieces through an email we sent to him on June 23, 2018. Up to now, we haven’t received any reply from him.
In making this decision, we are adhering to journalism’s core values of accuracy, fairness, balance, integrity and responsibility. Any doubt or question on the veracity of its articles are taken seriously and dealt with properly in accordance with our values and principles. We do this on all stories, features, and opinion pieces.
We believe this is not a question of press freedom but the veracity of a story. We thank the public for your concern. Rest assured that INQUIRER.net remains to uphold what is true and fair without compromising our values.
Abelardo S. Ulanday, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, INQUIRER.net