Governor Joel T. Reyes gave a live interview Monday morning with DYPR’s Ruel Caralipio that kept me glued to the radio while driving to work. It was a scoop for DYPR, the first time Governor Reyes broke his silence over a number of controversial issues that had emerged during the past month or so.
As expected, one of the topics covered was about the Malampaya sharing controversy, a story that I broke in the Inquirer over a month ago detailing their secret negotiation with the Palace to distribute portions of the Malampaya royalty being claimed by Palawan into a three-way pork sharing between Capitol and the two congressmen.
To my knowledge, since that story came out about a month ago, not one among the three Palawan leaders concerned had publicly spoken either to confirm or deny the story. In fact, all of them either declined to be interviewed or were not reachable by media.
That is why I was quite amused when Governor Reyes, in his first official response to the issue, declared that I (without mentioning my name) had been a victim of kuryente (a term used in media circle to describe a story that is false). “…nakuryente ang isang kasamahan ninyo sa media”… or something to that effect, was what he said. I was quite sure the governor was referring to my story, as it was an Inquirer exclusive.
But while he denied that there was an Executive Order detailing the sharing arrangement, he confirmed that there had been negotiations among the three of them and Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn over the sharing scheme. At the same time, he laughed out the report that Hagedorn had convinced Malacanang not to release the EO until the share of Puerto Princesa is resolved. With a tinge of sarcasm that belied the gnawing rift between them, he suggested that Hagedorn is too close to the President that he should convince her to issue the EO.
Hagedorn apparently wants a direct share for Puerto Princesa City, even if it is already a highly urbanized city and thus is not anymore qualified to receive from the province.
Governor Reyes was correct in explaining that Puerto Princesa in the first place never had a direct share of the gas proceed under the previous exploratory negotiations on facilitating the transfer of Malampaya funds to the province. He was right to point out that Puerto’s share had always been lodged in the share of the 2nd district where it belongs, and that its conversion to a highly urbanized city doesn’t mean it is already qualified for a separate share.
But at the same time, he sounded incredulous in trying to downplay the fact that there was indeed a secret agreement and that it was botched up, as it failed to materialize because Hagedorn, as the latter had claimed, came into the picture to mess things up.
If someone was a victim of kuryente, it certainly wasn’t me, and I doubt if any reporter or media entity was ever a victim of false information on this matter.
I can only comment that Governor Reyes’ unwillingness to divulge the actual status of the deal that apparently continues to this day is because everyone involved are aware that it is inherently irregular or perhaps even patently illegal, if not immoral (as Bishop Pedro Arigo had already declared). Atty. Harry Roque of Kilusang Love Malampaya certainly believes so. He has vowed to haul everyone involved, including the President, to court once the controversial Executive Order sees the light of day.
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