THE internet was abuzz over Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto’s social media post calling out broadcast journalists who did rags-to-riches features about Curlee and Sarah Discaya, months before they were tagged as contractors who cornered billions of pesos worth of flood control projects.

The post triggered denials from two popular broadcasters and opened a lively debate about journalistic practices and ethics.

While Sotto did not mention who the broadcast journalists were, screen grabs on his Facebook post on Thursday showed veteran broadcasters Julius Babao and Korina Sanchez, who were interviewing the Discaya couple on their shows and YouTube videos.

He also said media professionals should reflect on why a subject would be willing to spend millions to be featured.

Sotto also said some media practitioners try to justify these features as lifestyle content or sponsored material, but said these journalists were lending their reputation and credibility to the corrupt in exchange for money.

Vico Sotto's viral post sparks ethics debate, elicits response from journalists

In response, Sanchez issued a statement denying she had accepted payment for the interview and said the mayor’s statement was tantamount to cyber libel.

In a Messenger chat to The Manila Times on Saturday, National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) chairman Jonathan De Santos said while Sotto’s allegations are still unsubstantiated, accepting or soliciting money for “favorable” coverage is “wrong and unethical.”

“There is some nuance in that some colleagues are forced to accept money because of low pay and for survival, but that would not be the case here, if true,” De Santos said.

Former two-time senatorial candidate and lawyer Luke Espiritu said in a podcast interview that traditional media has “tariff rates” for interviews, with a 10-minute radio interview costing P850,000.

“This is normal, especially during election season, because we ourselves received many letters for paid interviews in 2022 and 2025, complete with rate tariffs per minute,” he said on a Facebook post on Saturday.

On a Facebook post late on Friday, retired journalist Chelo Banal-Formoso defended Sotto and questioned Babao’s and Sanchez’s journalistic instincts.

“Let’s say the Discaya piece was not a paid placement. They claim that this was a ‘lifestyle’ feature. Okay, good. But... the second they saw that huge garage and those many super expensive cars, that lifestyle story should have instantly turned into an investigative story. Right there and then, they were being fed clues of wrongdoing. They [Babao and Sanchez] didn’t smell the rotten deals? What happened to their journalistic instinct?”

Another former veteran journalist turned life coach, Dong Magsajo, defended the Pasig City mayor.

“Korina Sanchez and Julius Babao reacting the way they have to our Mayor’s social media post is expected. They will, of course, argue for their integrity. But if you read and actually comprehend Mayor Vico’s post, it does not accuse as much as it calls for a review of processes in order for people like Korina and Julius to actually protect their integrity,” he wrote on Facebook late on Friday. “Truthfully, had one or the other said, ‘Thank you for the reminder. We will do our best to be extra mindful moving forward,’ they’d have gotten more traction and a whole lot more respect. They aren’t being made out to be the bad guys. They’re being called out to help bring down the bad guys.”

Retired journalist Inday Espina-Varona said while she admired Sotto, she thought the mayor “should have known better than to bandy around sums without substantiation.”

“Plus, it was unnecessary because he was already spot on discussing the (missing) ethics and professional standards in their output,” she wrote on her Facebook page on Friday., This news data comes from:http://yamato-syokunin.com

Espina-Varona also weighed in on Sanchez’s and Babao’s deliveries of their interviews.

Vico Sotto's viral post sparks ethics debate, elicits response from journalists

“Korina’s had a more overt PR tone, perhaps because of the format... I was more disappointed with Julius. A very long interview that screams ‘Exclusive!’ carries the weight of a journalist’s experience and breadth of knowledge. I follow his show, Unplugged, and he has been great in many instances, so this aberration really stands out,” she wrote. “The current virality is probably due to the Senate probe into corruption in flood control programs. The Discayas figured in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s list of top contractors, and to call their record spotty is an understatement.”