Correction: What Koko should know

I am writing to point out a misunderstanding in a Letter to the Editor titled “What Koko should know” (7/7/17).

In the fifth paragraph of my letter, the content was originally written as:

“Second, Pimentel falsely affirmed his confidence in Diño’s ‘efforts to boost the beleaguered financial position of the SBMA,’ because, ironically, he himself has been accused of frittering away millions in SBMA funds for travels abroad without any perceivable benefit for the agency, and for unofficial outings in restaurants and hotels in and around Subic Bay. And what about this ‘beleaguered financial position of the SBMA’ that Diño had sounded warning bells about? Fake news, no less, as the SBMA on record has posted earnings of more than P615 million in just four months this year!”

Although the sentences may have been too fragmented, the part mentioning “he himself has been accused of frittering away….” was supposed to refer to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chair Martin Diño and not Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel as the edited and rewritten paragraph was published as follows:

“Pimentel affirmed his confidence in Diño’s efforts to boost the beleaguered financial position of the SBMA. Ironically, the Senate president himself has been accused of frittering away millions of pesos in SBMA funds for travels abroad (without any perceivable benefit to the agency), and for unofficial outings in restaurants and hotels in and around Subic Bay.

“‘Beleaguered financial position of the SBMA’? Fake news: The SBMA on record posted more than P615 million in earnings in just four months this year.”

I may have constructed the paragraph wrongly, but the letter was aimed at enlightening Senator Pimentel on the real issue behind the leadership tussle in Subic. I had no intention of maligning the good senator’s reputation and that statement was referring to Diño — who has been accused by the very board he chairs of frittering away millions of pesos in SBMA funds for travels abroad (without any perceivable benefit to the agency), and for unofficial outings in restaurants and hotels in and around Subic Bay.

I am hoping this error be corrected as the published version accuses Pimentel of a wrongdoing — something that I did not intend to do when I originally wrote the letter.

ANTON DELEON, anton.deleon@gmail.com