24 April 2014

Mr. Noel Lorenzana
President and CEO
ABC Development Corporation (TV5)
TV 5 Media Center
Reliance cor. Sheridan Street
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila

Dear Mr. Lorenzana:

Greetings!

I write in response to the statement published on April 23, 2014 on the TV5 website InterAksyon.com, entitled “TV5 dares DSWD chief: own up to spoiled goods mess, prove footage ‘manipulated’”.

The statement challenged me to provide evidence that the video clip used for the TV5 story aired on March 26, 2014 regarding the supposed spoilage of DSWD relief goods in a Tacloban warehouse was manipulated.

To be perfectly clear, this is the manipulation I referred to: One scene in the video clip showed a warehouse with a banner clearly identifying it as the Tacloban Hub of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This scene was immediately followed by another scene showing spilled rice and the remnants of a dead chicken.

Clearly, the sequence intended to show that the second scene occurred in the same place as the first scene. This is simply not true.

As I explained in a letter dated March 31, 2014 to Ms. Luchie Cruz Valdez, TV5 News and Information Head, there was no such spoilage in the DSWD Tacloban Hub. In the same letter, I asked Ms. Valdez the exact location of the warehouse featured on the March 26, 2014 video clip so that the DSWD could investigate the matter. Unfortunately, to date, I have not received any response from Ms. Valdez.

Instead, on April 14, 2014, TV5 aired the same video clip, saying that it stood by its story – that was the DSWD Tacloban Hub and that the DSWD should take responsibility for the rotting relief goods within, while also stating that the scene featured was in Barangay Caibaan, Tacloban.

However, the DSWD maintains warehouses in Barangay Apitong and Barangay Abucay. The DSWD never had a warehouse in Barangay Caibaan.

All of these lead us to believe that the video clip was intended to deliberately and maliciously mislead the viewing public into believing that the DSWD is leaving relief goods to rot and waste.

It is unfortunate that TV5 News refuses to acknowledge this misinformation.

In the interest of truth and ethical journalism, I thus demand that TV5 management publicly correct the misleading information contained in the March 26, 2014 story and retract the April 23, 2014 statement.

I would appreciate receiving updates on the actions TV5 management would take regarding this matter.

Sincerely,

CORAZON JULIANO-SOLIMAN
Secretary