Nacionalista Party spokesperson and senatorial candidate Gilbert Remulla on Friday challenged ABS-CBN News to reveal the source of the bogus psychological report of Liberal Party standard bearer Sen. Benigno Aquino III.
Remulla challenged the news organization to reveal the sources of the "document" that said Aquino suffered a psychiatric ailment.
ABS-CBN News said they got the information from 2 independent sources from the NP.
Remulla, however, denied that the document, which Aquino and the LP said was fake, came from within the NP.
He said that 6 officials that could possibly had been the source of the documents - Sen. Manuel Villar, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Rimpy Bondoc, Adel Tamano, NP executive director Atty. Vicky Loanzon, and himself - have already denied that they were the source of the document.
Remulla said that if they were the source of the document, they would not have given those to ABS-CBN, which the party sees as "biased" for Aquino.
However, when he was asked what would happen if ABS-CBN News refused to give the names of their sources due to journalistic ethics, Remulla, a former journalist himself, said that the "credibility" of both NP and the news organization would be in jeopardy if the sources' identities are not revealed.
Remulla said that if ABS-CBN News does not reveal its source, the organization should issue an apology.
NP vice presidential bet Loren Legarda, meanwhile, said she does not know about any psychological record of Aquino.
She also denied she is the source of the document, especially after she asked the LP on Thursday to stop their 'below the belt' accusations.
NP senatorial bet Ramon Mitra III said the document might have come from LP themselves.
Another member of NP’s senatorial slate, Liza Maza, meanwhile said that they should ask the reporter directly to reveal the source.
ABS-CBN's reply
ABS-CBN News, however, stood its ground and said it won't reveal its sources.
"We respect the confidentiality of our sources. While it's tempting to take the Nacionalista Party's challenge, it violates a sacred rule of journalism," Maria Ressa, ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs head, said in a statement.
"Two sources from the Nacionalista Party - independently - gave ABS-CBN an alleged psychiatric analysis of Sen. Benigno Aquino III before it started to spread online and on text," the statement said.
"Two weeks ago, we revealed that sources from the Liberal Party gave ABS-CBN documents questioning Sen. Manuel Villar's ad before the information spread online and on text," the statement also said.
"It's our job to be transparent to the public we serve," it added.
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