“No sir, masaya po kami naka-detain siya.”
(No sir, we’re happy she’s detained.)
This was the response of blogger Rey Joseph Nieto to Senator Antonio Trillanes IV who demanded an apology for Senator Leila De Lima, after Nieto took a “disrespectful” photo in front of her office.
During the Senate committee on public information and mass media hearing on fake news, Trillanes asked Nieto, the administrator of “Thinking Pinoy” blog, if he would “at least apologize to the senator for the photo.”
READ: Bloggers chided for taking ‘taunting’ photos in front of De Lima’s office
But the blogger refused to apologize.
“Opo (I won’t apologize), and I’m entitled to my own political opinion,” Nieto said.
“You’re entitled to your own sick opinion,” Trillanes quipped.
The photo shows Nieto, together with his friend Mike Lopez, posing in front of De Lima’s office.
The lady senator’s camp, meanwhile, demanded for a public apology due to the “taunting photos” which “ridiculed” her.
“We take serious offense at the discourteous behavior of individuals by the name of Rey Joseph “RJ” Nieto and Mike Acebedo Lopez when they posed taunting photos to ridicule Senator Leila M. de Lima right in front of our office as they visited the Senate for an interview last Oct.3,” Ferdie Maglalang, chief communications officer of De Lima, said in a statement. /je