oo my god
TV reporter feels
brunt of Poe ire
Posted: 0:55 AM (Manila Time) | Apr. 02, 2004
By Christine O. Avendaño and Lira Dalangin-Fernandez
Inquirer News Service and INQ7.net
'Stand-upper'
ILOILO CITY -- Fernando Poe Jr. berated a television news reporter Thursday
night when she suddenly appeared on stage while he was addressing a campaign
rally in Tigbauan town, some 22 km south of this city.
GMA Network reporter Sandra Aguinaldo said she was surprised at the way Poe
embarrassed her in front of the crowd.
In an interview with the Inquirer and in a live broadcast over GMA Channel 7's
"24 Oras" newscast, Aguinaldo said she had gone up the stage to do a "stand
upper," or an on-the-scene report.
But because there were many people on the stage, she was forced to stand close
to Poe who was giving his speech.
Poe then came to her side and offered her the microphone he was holding.
"Would you like to speak?" Aguinaldo quoted Poe as saying to her. She said she
could only shake her head and step back in reply.
"Hindi nga, gusto mo yata magsalita (Really, it looks like you want to speak),"
she said Poe insisted. She said she only shook her head some more and retreated
from her position.
After Poe finished his speech, she said his running mate Sen. Loren Legarda and
spokesperson Sen. Vicente Sotto III approached her and demanded that she
apologize to the actor.
Aguinaldo told them she had only meant to do a stand upper-something she said
Legarda understood being a former broadcast journalist.
But she said that Legarda told her, "Mag-apologize ka para matapos na
(Apologize to get it over with)."
She told them she was the one who was embarrassed by Poe and she didn't want to
apologize.
Later, Legarda told another reporter it was Sotto's idea to make Aguinaldo
apologize. For her part, Legarda said what she did "was done in good faith
since the situation was unclear at the time."
Over GMA-7, Aguinaldo said she felt insulted by Sotto's and Legarda's demand
because she was only doing her job.
Nevertheless, she approached Poe, who told her that what she did was wrong.
"Ang sabi ko sa kanya di ko naman gusto na agawan ka ng eksena pero ginagawa ko
lang ang trabaho ko (I told him I didn't want to grab the spotlight but I was
only doing my job)," she said she told Poe.
She said Poe raised his voice and told her: "Ang lagay nyan ako pa ang may
kasalan (So now it's my fault)."
Aguinaldo told the Inquirer she explained to Poe what a stand upper was and Poe
replied, "'Hindi yun eh, yung mga tao nakatingin sa iyo (It wasn't that; you
grabbed the people's attention).'"