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‘MARCOLETA’S STATEMENT UNFAIRLY MALIGNED MEDIA WORKERS WHO RISK INTIMIDATION, HARASSMENT, AND THEIR LIVES’ The members of the Senate media issued a statement to condemn Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s remark calling the press “bayaran” during the Blue Ribbon Committee hearing conducted by Senate President Alan Cayetano’s bloc on Thursday. “We, the members of the Senate media, condemn in the strongest possible sense the sweeping claim by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta that many members of the mainstream media are nothing more than paid hacks,” the statement read. Marcoleta made the allegations after citing a sworn statement of 18 former Marines accusing some members of the media of receiving luggage containing cash. “Public officials, such as Marcoleta, who make serious allegations against journalists have a responsibility to present evidence instead of just relying on inflammatory rhetoric that undermines democratic institutions. Again, the press is not the enemy of any political faction. It is not an extension of any political machinery. Its allegiance must remain solely to the truth and to the public it serves,” the Senate media stressed.