RPN-9 says its reporter not involved in extortion case

The management of state-run RPN-9 television clarified yesterday that its former newscaster, Richard Rivera, had been dropped from the pool of the network’s reporters more than three years ago.

Rivera was recently implicated by Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza in a P1-million extortion try along with erstwhile undersecretary Nolan Sison of the Office of Media and Ecclesiastical Affairs.

Earlier reports said Rivera resigned from RPN-9 before the May 10 elections to manage the media group of the opposition Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP).

"For the record, Mr. Rivera was dropped from the pool of the network’s talent reporters in May 2001 because of his numerous absences and not before the recent May 2004 elections," RPN-9 news and public affairs manager Dody Lacuna said.

Lacuna added that Rivera "was not in any way connected with RPN-9 News and Public Affairs since then, and certainly not a year or months before the May 2004 elections."

Mendoza said a camera surveillance system caught Sison last Aug. 23 soliciting P1 million from certain Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) officials. Sison claimed to represent Philippine Monitoring Group (PMG), a supposed anti-graft watchdog, he added.

The PMG demanded P1 million in exchange for withdrawing a smear campaign against Mendoza to influence his possible confirmation by the Commission on Appointments, the DOTC said.

Sison reportedly told DOTC that PMG is a spin-off of the KNP media group which disbanded after opposition standard-bearer Fernando Poe Jr. lost the presidential elections last May.

Left on their own, the group formed the PMG with the mission to harass government officials under the guise of pursuing a crusade against corruption, the DOTC said