And then, they’re gone.
Last night, many were shocked to discover that the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s website, one of the country’s oldest newspapers, has taken down three articles related to a controversial rape case allegedly involving a Philippine senator who is also a known ally of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Links to the said articles now lead to a page which states: “The articles on the Pepsi Paloma case are currently under review and are temporarily unavailable.”
This comes almost three weeks after one of the articles’ writers, Rodel Rodis, divulged in a Facebook post that Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto has requested Inquirer to take them down from their website.
The stories were about the late actress Pepsi Paloma who filed a case against Sotto, his brother Vic, and their friends Joey de Leon and the late Richie D’Horsey, for allegedly raping her in 1982. All four men are known comedians in the Philippines.
Three years after the alleged rape, Paloma died in an apparent suicide.
Rodis wrote two of the controversial articles: “The Rape of Pepsi Paloma” and “Was Pepsi Paloma murdered?”
Writer Totel de Jesus wrote the other one titled, “Tito Sotto denies whitewashing Pepsi Paloma rape case.”
In his post, Rodis showed photos of what he said are letters addressed to Inquirer chairman Paolo Prieto, where Sotto allegedly wrote: “These kinds of unverified articles have been negatively affecting my reputation for the longest time.”
The Inquirer is owned by another supporter of Duterte, businessman Ramon Ang.
Sotto’s letter and the ensuing controversy have made Filipinos aware of the existence of an online phenomenon called the Streisand Effect.
Named after singer Barbara Streisand, it describes a situation where, in the effort to hide a piece of juicy information, the public becomes more curious. The information then spreads like wildfire.
And in a way, this is what happened with the Pepsi Paloma case.
Because of Inquirer‘s decision to take it down, the name “Pepsi Paloma” is now trending on Twitter, where her name has been mentioned in more than 8,400 tweets as of this writing.
Many of the tweets slammed Inquirer for their decision.
Parody account Superficial Gazette has even offered links to the archived versions of the articles.
At the request of plagiarist Tito Sotto (@sotto_tito), @inquirerdotnet has taken down all its articles on Pepsi Paloma’s rape.
Fortunately for those of us who hate rapists, there are backups HERE:
— https://t.co/7KEkx9pMup
— https://t.co/DlRfg0leiS
— https://t.co/3st8rZWgCf pic.twitter.com/qef94CKRo5— Superficial Gazette 🇵🇭 (@SuperficialGZT) July 4, 2018
Another parody account, @MillennialofMNL, shared a video of the Eraserheads song Spolarium, which reportedly alludes to the rape case.
Apparently, Inquirer has taken down all its publications about Pepsi Paloma. Tanginamo @sotto_titohttps://t.co/hVLm2C0m08
— 🍑 (@MillennialOfMNL) July 4, 2018
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines tweeted their statement regarding the saga, calling it one of the “darkest days in the annals of Philippine journalism.”
[STATEMENT] NUJP on @inquirerdotnet’s take down of Pepsi Paloma articles pic.twitter.com/svviHvxdjZ
— NUJP (@nujp) July 4, 2018
Meanwhile, former journalist Caloy Conde wrote that Sotto “has been getting away with a lot of things: anti-gay, anti-condom, anti-reproductive health, anti-harm reduction, pro-‘drug war,’ etc. And now this [removal of Paloma articles].”
Philippine senator @Sotto_Tito has been getting away with a lot of things: anti-gay, anti-condom, anti-reproductive health, anti-harm reduction, pro-“drug war,” etc.
And now this.
NUJP: Removal of rape articles marks dark day in Philippine journalism https://t.co/O7iGzrUypI
— Caloy Conde (@carloshconde) July 4, 2018
Rappler reported that Sotto refused to discuss the removal of the articles.
In a text message, he wrote: “I thanked them [Inquirer] already.”
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