Tiglao wrote an open letter to Rappler's ex-researcher: Save the nation, and your own skin: Tell the truth


Rigoberto Tiglao and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. | Photo from Google and wfdd


Former diplomat and veteran columnist Rigoberto Tiglao has published an open letter for Reynaldo Santos, Jr., the author of Rappler’s libelous article against businessman Wilfredo Keng.

Tiglao reached out to Santos through his column in the hopes to communicate after the latter became unreachable.

“As expected, your and Ms. Maria Ressa’s conviction for libel filed by a businessman whom your article claimed was a criminal, has riled the US establishment and its media. They are claiming that this episode again demonstrates that President Duterte has been out for years to get Rappler and Ressa.” Said Tiglao

The columnist cited that some of the American personalities were outraged when Ressa was convicted because they consider her as “one of them”.

“The bigger picture though is that the US want President Duterte and his camp toppled, as he has been a huge obstacle to its so-called  “Pivot to Asia” program which was accelerated in 2012, which seeks not only to maintain American hegemony in the region but to block the rise of a superpower that could eclipse it, China.” Tiglao said

“For the first time ever in our history, a Philippine president has dared to declare the country’s total independence from the claws of the American eagle.”*

“Worse, Duterte’s independent foreign policy has drawn us to what after all should be our natural ally, China.” He added

Tiglao said it was Duterte who undid the huge gains of the US made during Aquino’s time but its intelligence, that is said to be embedded in the media, has been ordered to throw everything at the current president.

“Duterte dismantled the huge gains the US had made through his predecessor Benigno Aquino 3rd, who made the country its proxy in containing China in the South China Sea. It had succeeded in maneuvering Aquino to file the arbitration case against China, the results of which have benefited not us, but the US. Under Aquino, the US restored its military bases — in a modern form — it lost in 1992, disguised through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).  The US intelligence community — which is embedded in media — has been instructed to throw everything at Duterte, and this false press freedom issue is one of them.” The former diplomat said*

Tiglao appealed Santos to show his “patriotism and nationalism, as you are in a unique position to totally dismantle this fiction that Rappler has merely been doing his job.”

Tiglao alleged Marites Vitug fed the wrong information about Keng or she may have written the libelous article herself.

“Vitug vigorously pursued the publication of your supposed article as she was deeply involved in the propaganda campaign to blacken the embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona, in order to ease the senators’ consciences in removing Corona, who had a well-known reputation as an upright, incorruptible person.” Tiglao wrote

He also pointed out that maybe at the end, Ressa and Rappler may throw Santos under the bus.

“Ressa’s actually delighted over her conviction as she will again be hailed as the “champion of press freedom,” which has been her only claim to journalistic excellence, and add another award to her collection. She is dreaming that she will again be Time’s Person of the Year, and this time she will not have to be with two other journalists.” Tiglao said

Ending his the letter, Tiglao said “Why should you suffer for an immoral cause? The nation is more important than friends, family and definitely former colleagues who took advantage of your idealism. All you have to do is speak the truth.”

 

 


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