‘Gang of 5’ solons gang up on reporters

The group of congressmen known as the "Gang of 5" ganged up yesterday on reporters who wrote about their alleged extortion activities.

Upon the suggestion of gang members and Rep. Antonio Eduardo Nachura (LP, Western Samar), the House ethics committee chaired by Rep. Antonio Abaya (Lakas, Isabela) voted to subpoena Tita Valderama of the People’s Journal and this paper’s reporter to its next hearing on Oct. 16.

It was Valderama who, last Sept. 5, wrote about the supposed attempt of gang members to extort money from cellular phone operators Globe and Smart which were then under investigation for planning to reduce the number of free text messages they were giving their subscribers.

She quoted unnamed but highly reliable sources belonging to the majority in the House.

Her story named Representatives Prospero Pichay Jr. (Lakas, Surigao del Sur), Jacinto Paras (Lakas, Negros Oriental), Rolex Suplico (LDP, Iloilo), Eduardo Veloso (NPC-Lakas, Leyte), and Aniceto Saludo (LDP-Lakas, Southern Leyte) as members of the Gang of 5.

The five have all denied that they are engaged in extortion activities.

Valderama was invited to yesterday’s hearing of the ethics committee but declined the invitation, saying she has the right under the law and Supreme Court rulings not to reveal her sources.

She assured the five aggrieved congressmen and the ethics panel that she wrote the story in good faith, and that she did not intend to malign anyone.

Deputy Speaker for Visayas Raul Gonzalez, citing the Constitution and a Supreme Court decision, said media practitioners generally cannot be compelled to reveal their sources except in matters of national interest.

"I don’t think that the integrity of the supposed gang members is a matter of national interest," he said.

Nonetheless, Gonzalez agreed that Valderama should be subpoenaed because, he said, lawmakers should not allow the media to make fun of them.

This reporter was invited to the Oct. 16 hearing upon the suggestion of Pichay. The STAR followed up the Gang of 5 controversy on Sept. 6 without naming the supposed gang members.

It was only when Suplico and Pichay filed separate resolutions seeking inquiries that The STAR named them based on the two measures.

In Resolution 177, Suplico asked the ethics committee to investigate him and the Gang of 5.

Pichay, for his part, in Resolution 179, named Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and Deputy Majority Leader Francis Escudero as the source of what he described as the malicious reports against them.

He urged the ethics panel to investigate the two, who have denied his allegation.

Valderama also denied that her sources were Gonzales and Escudero.

Veloso wanted this reporter to testify in yesterday’s hearing seconds after the summons was issued to him, but Suplico posed an objection.

The Iloilo congressman said there should be sufficient notice to a witness.

As a parting shot, Saludo urged the media to be more careful in their reports, saying he and his colleagues have already suffered enough.

The ethics panel spent much of the initial hearing on a procedural issue raised by Majority Leader Gonzales and on a question of jurisdiction, but eventually decided that it would proceed with its inquiry.

When the hearing was over, reporters complained that the Abaya panel was investigating them instead of the Gang of 5.