Tuesday, November 28, 2006 Guv’s aide challenges broadcaster
CAPITOL consultant Pablo John Garcia is challenging tri-media personality Leo Lastimosa to a public debate about the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).
This after Lastimosa gave “misleading” and “unfounded” comments on the facility in his morning radio programs and in his column in a local newspaper.
Lastimosa reportedly said in his program that not a single minister will set foot on the CICC.
He said this after reports came out that all the meetings of the Asean summit will be held in Shangi-la’s Mactan Island Resort because the CICC will not be completed on time. (But the source of this report, PNP Deputy Director Avelino Razon Jr. corrected it saying he was only misquoted.)
He also wrote in his column that Capitol is still searching for a supplier of the air-conditioning system after Capitol terminated the contract of the winning bidder for delay in delivery.
Pablo John said that if Lastimosa is man enough to stand by his statements, he “should not hide behind his bully pulpit on radio or TV or in someone else’s skirt.”
Pablo John, younger brother of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, wants the debate in front of other media practitioners and Lastimosa’s mass communication students.
Forum
“As a respected media personality, he should give us a forum for every lie he said about CICC…. If he is in such exalted position to mold students and teach values of journalism, I think he should be subjected to the strictest standards of journalism,” Pablo John added.
But Lastimosa, in a separate interview, said he will not agree to a debate because it will just be a waste of the public’s time.
He said he got information from reliable sources, some of them are “more authoritative” than others, and he just broadcast their information.
“It is a crime to disagree with them? It’s really up to the people whom to believe,” Lastimosa said.
He also clarified that he did not say that not one prime minister will set foot on the CICC.
What he said was, not a single ministerial meeting will be held in the CICC and his sources are two cabinet members who were here during one of President Arroyo’s visit.
“I have nothing against him or against the governor. If I will accept the challenge to a public debate, I will be proclaiming myself as an opponent of the Provincial Government. But I’m not. I want the Asean summit to succeed except that I have some questions,” Lastimosa said.
He said Pablo John or the governor can dispute his statements through interviews and are even welcome to his radio program.
But Pablo John said he will not interact with Lastimosa in his programs because he knows that after his time to speak, Lastimosa will continue to criticize him on air. (MBG)
