DAGUPAN City Mayor Benjamin S. Lim chided The PUNCH for its headline story that reported the filing of graft cases against him before the Ombudsman, on the reportedly anomalous Awai land deal.

He expressed his annoyance during the Media In Action forum of the Pangasinan Press Club last Friday.

When asked to comment on the The PUNCH report, he said he will refuse to comment on the report until he formally receives the information from the Ombudsman. His refusal to comment was earlier reported in Philippine Star story published last July 31, Tuesday.

The mayor said his verification of the filed complaints on the “supposed Awai anomalies” proved negative since he has not received any formal communication about the complaints, “which I feel that as of now, should the Ombudsman actually received those complaints they should have acted upon it. (sic)”

He said he found it unusual that The PUNCH already received a copy of the complaint even before he could receive a notice from the Ombudsman.

The said he suspects that The PUNCH was the author of the complaint filed since the timing was suspect. .

“Nagtataka lang ako dahil kung ako na supposedly dinemanda eh hindi pa nakakatanggap ng notice how come na that particular weekly newspaper already got its copy kaya baka pareho ng pinanggalingan sa pinagmulan saka yong nagprinta.” the mayor said.

 (Editor – It is the given duty of a legitimate newspaper worthy of its name to constantly be on the lookout for sources of legitimate news, and not to wait for press releases of politicians. Raw information was relayed to The PUNCH a weeks earlier but the story was not pursued since there was no evidence of a copy of the complaint as having been received received by the Ombudsman. The copy of the “received “ complaint was received by The PUNCH at 7 p.m. Friday via fax at the closing hours of our presswork. An attempt to get the city press office to react proved futile after calls to the office were unanswered).

The mayor also complained of “unfairness” because he claimed The PUNCH never sought his side.

“Kasi if you talk about fairness, you have to bring all sides. Ang tanong, ako ba kinakausap ng dyrayong yan to get my side? Never, never, di ba?” Lim said. “Eh ano ang motivation nila? Para siraan ako?” he added.

 (Editor – The PUNCH regularly attempts to seek additional information or reaction from his office via email through its cityinformationoffice@dagupan.gov.ph but the system always replies with “Delivery to the following recipient failed permanently”. And when someone, by chance) picks up our landline call, the person on the other line refuses to respond to our questions with standard reply: “Wala dito ang information officer.”).

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