Tribune belies ConGen’s claim — Challenges cato to release private communications

The Philippine Consulate in Milan on Thursday said that DAILY TRIBUNE had not sought its side on the complaints of Filipinos in Italy that it had "sat" on their efforts to get back the money "scammed" from them by Alpha Assistenza SRL.

Nothing could be more removed from the truth than this statement by the consulate amid Senate resolutions calling to investigate its "non-action" on the complaints coursed by the so-called Alpha 400 "victims" through this paper's digital show Usapang OFW.

"Contrary to what some are trying to make the public believe, the Consulate General of the Philippines in Milan had made it known as early as 7 September 2023 in this exclusive interview with Usapang OFW, the digital program of the Daily Tribune, that it was investigating the cases of fraud and illegal recruitment that kababayan had brought to its attention," a Facebook post of the Philippine Consulate General in Milan read.

The post added that in the interview, Consul General Elmer G. Cato even shared some of the actions the Consulate had been taking on these cases.

"Unfortunately, for some reason or another, the facts that the Consulate disclosed during the interview were never mentioned in news reports from the same publication that began appearing three weeks later," it said." The public may also wish to know that up to now, the Daily Tribune has still not reached out to the Consulate to get its side."

But well-documented exchanges by Usapang OFW with Consul General Elmer Cato, beginning 22 September or a day after several complainants against Alpha Assistenza made known their plight during the show, would expose the consulate's claim as a barefaced lie.

Personal messages between this writer and Consul General Cato would show continuing efforts by DAILY TRIBUNE to get his answer to the complaints raised against him by Filipinos in Italy who had sponsored the visa applications of their relatives and friends in the Philippines.

A phone call between Usapang OFW and Cato on the said date and his frenetic call on 25 September, as the show's hosts brought the complainants to the Department of Migrant Workers, would further expose the falsity of the consulate's statement.

Mindful of the Data Privacy Act and honoring the journalistic tenet that communications made "off the record" should stay that way, DAILY TRIBUNE is issuing a challenge to Consul General Cato to release his private communications with this writer, as well as several of his "off the record" phone conversations with Usapang OFW show hosts, if only to show the public who is lying.

As Senators Raffy Tulfo and Risa Hontiveros have filed resolutions to investigate the Alpha Assistenza scam described by no less than the Italian Embassy in Manila as "predatory," the truth would be served best if Cato would testify under oath as to the "ties that bind" him with Alpha Assistenza as alleged by the complainants.

Center of allegations
Specifically, Cato should explain the nature of the funds that, according to Alpha Assistenza marketing manager Jeffrey Villalon, were received by the consulate from the company during the consulate's Independence Day celebration last 18 June.

At the very center of the allegations raised by the complainants against Cato, including those who appeared during the Usapang OFW shows and those who filed complaints before the Department of Justice, is the "boast" made by Alpha Assistenza co-CEO Krizelle Respicio that the complaints against them would not prosper because of her closeness to Cato.

A video of the Independence Day event, in which Alpha Assistenza, according to Villalon, paid 26,000 euros for the video wall used in the affair, would tend to confirm this "closeness."

So would several photos of Consul General Cato with Respicio and her partner Frederick Dutaro, including one showing her embracing the official.

In the same statement, the consulate claimed that DAILY TRIBUNE did not present Cato's side after Usapang OFW interviewed him on 7 September.

However, stories published by this paper would show that, despite his insistence that his communications with Usapang OFW be kept off the record, DAILY TRIBUNE had aired his side, including in a story where a TV station quoted him belatedly saying the consulate had a strong case against Alpha Assistenza.

The consulate made a mountain out of Usapang OFW's interview with Cato to belie the complainants' allegations that the consulate had "sat" on their complaints.

"Whether this was done deliberately or not, the series of reports published by Daily Tribune that quoted complainants by most of those whom the Consulate had no previous interactions with, unfortunately, created the impression that the Consulate failed to fulfill its mandate of assisting distressed kababayan," it continued.

Working hard
"It also eroded some of the trust and confidence of kababayan in Milan and other parts of Northern Italy that the Consulate had been working hard to earn in the past several months. The public may also wish to know that up to now, Daily Tribune has still not reached out to the Consulate to get its side."

While it may be conceded that Cato did talk about the problem in that 7 September Usapang OFW episode, it bears pointing out that his statements during the show opened the proverbial "can of worms."

It was after that episode that complainants against Alpha Assistenza, both the job seekers in the Philippines and their Filipino sponsors in Italy, contacted Usapang OFW to reveal that Cato's statements during the show were just "lip service" as he was allegedly not, in reality, doing anything.

The complaints against Alpha Assistenza and Consul General Cato were made by the Alpha 400, many of whom have already issued sworn statements before the DMW, the Department of Justice, and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Interestingly, both Respicio and Cato had determined to attack the proverbial "harbinger of bad news" — bad news to them — by coming up with the same tact of trying to discredit this paper. We stand by our stories as they are true to long-held journalistic principles.

Like our communication with the consulate, DAILY TRIBUNE had also reached out to Respicio until she blocked this writer on Messanger and turned her back on a pledge she had made to appear on Usapang OFW.