It is now official. Tony Allen, the head honcho of both the "Weekend Balita" and "Midweek Balita" confirmed to Bobby Reyes in a meeting at the former's office that his company has terminated the services of James Saspa, its editor, and Dionesio Grava, its reporter, as of 2:00 p.m. today, Aug. 1, 2007. The dismissal of Messrs. Saspa and Grava resulted from the protest letter sent by this writer to Mr. Allen's wife, Ms. Luchie Mendoza-Allen, the CEO of Balita Media, Inc. Mr. Allen has no objection to the www.mabuhayradio.com's publishing in full the said protest letter. (Subsequently, the Weekend Balita owners took back Mr. Saspa but demoted him to the position of Contributing Editor. The new Editor-in-Chief is Ms. Amee R. Enriquez. Mr. Allen said that Mr.Grava would never be permitted again to write for any of his publications.)

The "Weekend Balita" will publish in its regular issue next week a joint statement. The statement will declare the full settlement of the issues raised by Mr. Reyes, who has pledged to Mr. Allen's publications his continued support and that of his coalition bannered by the Media Breakfast Club (MBC). As Mr. Reyes stated in his letter to Ms. Allen, (par. 6.2.3), the Balita Media, Inc., has been supportive of the MBC's activities and the club members and officers have no quarrel with the Allen Couple and their esteemed publications. This online magazine will publish the joint statement, as will be published by the "Weekend Balita," which has the biggest circulation in the Filipino-American Fourth Estate of Southern California.

-----Original Message-----
From:
To: ; editor. ;
Cc: ;
Sent: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:41 pm
Subject: Libelous Lies In Dionesio Grava's Article in the Weekend Balita

July 23, 2007

Ms. Luchie Mendoza Allen, Chief Executive Officer

Balita Media, Inc., Publisher of Weekend Balita

520 East Wilson Ave., Suite 210, Glendale, CA 91206

Through Mr. James Saspa, Editor

Dear Ms. Allen:

This is in reference to the front-page article entitled, "Near the edge of success, a threat to self-destruct," which was written by your staff member, Dionesio C. Grava. Your newspaper, the Weekend Balita, published in its issue for July 21-24, 2007, (Vol. XVI, No. 295), Mr. Grava's article that carried a lot of libelous lies and innuendoes, accompanied by a clear demonstration of malice towards the undersigned Roberto "Bobby" M. Reyes.

I demand full retraction from your newspaper by publishing this letter of protest in your front page and continued in the same pages 12 and 13. I demand also a full apology that you should publish together with this rebuttal.

Here are the lies and distortion of facts committed by your staff writer, Dionesio Grava:

1.0 Mr. Grava described the undersigned Bobby Reyes with these words: " . . . the ugliness in the nature of some of our people has become proverbial--likened to crabs dragging down to their own level, kindred at the upper end of an enclosure. In this recent and ongoing development, Internet denizens had their first glimpse of impending trouble when self-proclaimed 'full-time activist' Roberto Reyes issued on July 6 a fatwa-like ultimatum to the National Alliance for Veterans' Equity . . ."

2.0 Mr. Grava wrote in the same article: " . . . Despite the fact that Reyes brought along members of his family and several others from the Filipino community--paying the required registration fees so they could vote for him, billeting them in a local hotel, and incurring such other hassles--he was roundly trounced by the younger Mark Pulido, 79-39." He followed this description by at the end of the article by calling the delegates as "Hakot," which means in Tagalog as "paid delegates transported to a venue to perform like robots."

        2.2 Mr. Grava conveniently omitted the fact that our delegation was supported by a corporate grant given by a California registered computer-manufacturing corporation and which fact was known to the distinguished members of the delegation.

        2.3 Mr. Grava conveniently omitted the fact that the 79 votes obtained by Mr. Pulido were disputed because most of them were not registered delegates who did not pay the convention fee of $150 per head plus the required $25 voter's registration fee per voter, as mandated in the NaFFAA Bylaws. Mr. Pulido had only some 20 delegates who registered properly and the NaFFAA Committee on Elections (COMELEC) waived the payment of the required fees by then and there "amending" the Bylaws and allowed the more-than 40 students from San Diego, CA, (the real "hakot" delegates) to vote, even if they (students) did not attend the first two-days of the convention and arrived only at the Bally's Hotel in the morning of Oct. 1, 2000, Sunday, just on time for the election.

3.0 Mr. Grava again told a libelous lie when he wrote: " . . . In 2002 Pulido resigned from his post as NaFFAA regional chairman and suddenly Reyes became conciliatory to everybody he earlier despised in NaFFAA even as he claimed and attempted to take over the chairmanship of the region supposedly because, as the defeated candidate for the position, he was next in line when it became vacant." Mr. Grava further continued his lie by writing in the caption below the photograph of Gil Mislang: " . . . Pulido defeated Roberto 'Bobby' Reyes for the position in the 2000 election and, when Pulido left, Reyes automatically took over, claiming that as the defeated candidate, he has first option for the vacancy." This lie (in the caption) is not only a duplication of the misrepresentation of facts, as stated in the text of the article but is an overkill, if not a redundancy, designed by Mr. Grava in using even the caption as a propaganda tool.

        3.1 The truth of the matter was that at that time the NaFFAA Bylaws mandated that the second-placed candidate would automatically become the vice-chairperson of the regional chapter. There were only two candidates for the position during the Oct. 1, 2000, election: Mark Pulido and Bobby Reyes. Therefore, Reyes was automatically elected as the vice-chairman of the regional chapter. When Mr. Pulido resigned from the said position, the Bylaws authorized Mr. Reyes to assume the position.

        3.2 Mr. Grava further wrote another lie: " . . . Unfortunately for Reyes, NaFFAA didn't take the bait, didn't recognize him and instead designated Gil Mislang vice Pulido."

4.0 Mr. Grava, who comes from Leyte, mentioned in the said Weekend Balita article the NaFFAA founder, Alex Esclamado, who hails also from Leyte. He conveniently omits the fact he (Grava) is the nephew of Mr. Esclamado, a fact that he (Grava) has admitted in his postings in the , although he said that he is only a distant relative of Mr. Esclamado.

5.0 Mr. Grava wrote in the same article, " . . . as detractors of NAFVE led by Reyes seized on the issue and linked it to his allegation of corruption among (sic) its leadership."

        5.2 In fact, the www.mabuhayradio.com that the undersigned edits has announced that the "NaFFAA Region 3 and the NaFFAA Michigan Chapter Have Invited Critic." The critic is Bobby Reyes and as the article states, he has been invited to deliver a position paper about global warming during the NaFFAA regional convention in Dayton, Ohio, on Sept. 28-29, 2007. Reyes has also been invited by the NaFFAA Michigan Chapter to its event on Oct. 6, 2007, in Detroit, Michigan, where Reyes will present the community activities of his Los Angeles-based coalition and possibly sign a joint-venture agreement with the NaFFAA chapter for a Filipino-American Community Night at the Detroit Tigers Stadium during the 2008 baseball season.

              5.2.1 The fact is that Bobby Reyes is a much-respected community leader in Southern California having been elected as the chairman of the 2006 Kalayaan Philippine Independence Steering Committee and he is the prime mover of the 2006-2007 Philippine-American Community Nights at the Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Your publication has covered the 2006 Kalayaan events and those at the Dodgers Stadium. In fact, your columnist, Mr. Borje, has complimented in his column Mr. Reyes for his achievement of forming successfully a "Dream Team" in the Kalayaan 2006 organization.

              5.2.2 Mr. Reyes was elected also just last July 8, 2007, Sunday, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Philippine-American National Association, Inc., a 501-C-3 public-benefit corporation. He has also been designated as the chairman of the 2008 Sinulog Festival of the Cebu Brotherhood, Inc., another 501-C-3 foundation, and which will be held at the St. Columban Filipino Parish on Jan. 13, 2008. These are just some of the events that Mr. Reyes participates in support of the Filipino-American community.

6.0 Mr. Grava has indeed used the pages of the Weekend Balita to continue his bashing of Mr. Reyes and at the end of the article, he even included this: "(Author's note: In the interest of full disclosure and transparency, this writer was part of the group derided as Reyes' 'hakot' to Las Vegas for the 2000 election of regional chair. Out of work at that time, I welcomed the offer of part-time stint with his online publication, the now defunct Yimby.com. For the LV jaunt, I was promised additional compensation for my photos and video. Marquez was also with the group and in 2001, He and I were among the awardees of the First MBC-Dean Reyes Award for Journalistic Excellence. It was also the last of such award. Sometime later, I returned my trophy to Reyes.)"

        6.2 Mr. Grava was indeed one of the recipients of the First Media Breakfast Club (MBC)-Dean Jose Reyes Award for Journalistic Excellence given to Filipino-American journalists who had served the reading public as a media practitioner for at least 30 years. The 30-year media experience could be a combination of stints with the media in the Philippines and in the Filipino-American Fourth Estate.

              6.2.1 However, the Awards Committee of the MBC found out--after the awarding ceremonies were held at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel at the LAX--that Mr. Grava lied in his biographical sketch submitted to the committee. Mr. Grava claimed that he was a journalist in Cebu for some 25 years and was editing also the community bulletin of the Cebu Police Department. However, members of the Cebu Brotherhood, Inc. of Los Angeles reported to the MBC that Mr. Grava was only a member of the Cebu Port security division (so-called "customs police") and was not a longtime member of the Cebu's Finest. The Awards Committee asked, therefore, Mr. Grava to return the MBC-Dean Reyes Prize for telling lies in his biography submitted to it--to support his claim of at least 30 years of work in the media industry.

              6.2.2 Now, Mr. Grava tells people that he returned the MBC-Dean Reyes Award because it was not prestigious enough. He was actually asked to return the Award, as he did not deserve to be recognized together with the following awardees: Val Abelgas, Ben Alcantara, Al Alicante, Max Alvarez, Vic Balajadia, Fred Burce Bunao, Romeo P. Borje, Mar G. De Vera, Romeo P. Marquez, Joseph G. Lariosa and Carrie G. Lorenzana. Nobody else among the other awardees has returned the MBC-Dean Reyes Prize.

              6.2.3 The MBC-Dean Reyes Award is being belittled by Mr. Grava, who has demonstrated once again his penchant for being an ingrate. The Balita Media, Inc., was one of the media sponsors of the said MBC-Dean Reyes Award, as it honored two of its columnists, Max Alvarez and Romeo Borje. It was given on the 9th year of the MBC and it is not designed to be an annual award. It was the first time that the MBC held a formal dinner and ball to honor success stories in the Filipino-American media. Unfortunately, Mr. Grava nearly fooled the Awards Committee, which erred in giving him the prestigious prize. However, because of verified reports from Cebuano-American community leaders, it decided to withdraw the recognition and get back the award. Mr. Grava admitted that he returned it. We acknowledge receipt of the returned award.

In the final analysis, the reading public would easily note that Mr. Grava's article was about the 2007 Filipino Veterans' Lobby; it should not have carried any black propaganda designed to besmirch the reputation of a community leader. The public will note that in order to malign Mr. Reyes, Mr. Grava used incidents that happened in 2000 to 2002, nearly six to eight years before the present brouhaha about the NAFVE. And the 2000 and 2002 events did not relate to veterans' issues and, therefore, irrelevant to the story being written by Mr. Grava for the 2007 Filipino-Veterans' lobby. The use alone of the 2000 Ballygate Scandal of a NaFFAA election is enough preponderance of evidence of the malicious intent of Mr. Grava to humiliate the person of Mr. Reyes and make a mockery of his distinguished record of community service.

It is incomprehensible to think that the Balita Media, Inc., has decided to permit Mr. Grava to use the pages of its respected publication as his mouthpiece for the libelous defamation of Mr. Reyes and the 15-year old Media Breakfast Club (MBC) that he founded. The MBC is the only Filipino-American media organization that holds a weekly community meeting at the Filipino-American Community of Los Angeles (FACLA). Due to Mr. Grava's continuous nasty writings about the MBC members and founders, the club decided to label him in 2003 as "persona non grata" and, therefore, terminated his membership.

We have not sued Mr. Grava for libel because he does not have the financial resources to satisfy any judgment that we can secure in our favor. Besides, Mr. Grava has been maligning us only in certain online forums with limited membership and which are not accessible to the general public. We do not need the services of a lawyer, as we have proven in the Ongkeko vs. Reyes libel case in the Los Angeles Superior Court that we could ably represent ourselves In Propria Persona. But it is now different with this instant libel case, as the Weekend Balita has the biggest circulation of any Filipino-American newspaper in Southern California and your media company has the resources to answer for actual and/or punitive damages that may be awarded to us in case we are forced to bring the matter to a court of law.

Thank you for the attention and corrective action on this complaint,

Very respectfully yours,

(Signed) Bobby M. Reyes

cc: Mr. Dionesio C. Grava and Mr. Romeo P. Marquez

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