Drug Agent’s Daughter Kidnapped and Raped Reportedly Unverified

Posted by admin in Media, Tabloid News

The day before, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that a drug enforcement agent’s daughter was kidnapped and raped and the publication’s source was none other than the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency’s (PDEA) head Dionisio Santiago.

But a day later, the Palace have said that the incident was still unverified. PDEA chief even changed his statement saying that the kidnapping and rape was just the result of the girl’s father and family panicking and had come to such unverified conclusions.

Apparently, the girl was involved in a drinking spree with friends and got too drunk. She soon passed out and it was her friends who took her home.

Could this be a case of the media reporting an incident too soon? I know getting a scoop is the bread-and-butter of every news outfit but with such a sensitive case, would it be too much to ask if the incident was further verified before telling the public about it?

Even if it was true, I can just imagine what the girl’s family would have felt that whenever they go out of the house or turn on their TV or radio, all they would hear and watch are people talking about the horrible situation they were in.

Compassion, in this case, came second to the ‘public’s right to know’. I’m a member of the public and I would rather have not heard about it in the first place.