Anchor Karmina Constantino has snapped back at presidential bet Dr. Jose “Joey” Montemayor Jr. for insinuating ANC is a ‘paid hack’ of rival candidate Manila Mayor Isko Moreno.
This has resulted in Constantino being the trending topic on Twitter on Tuesday after netizens praised her for standing up to Montemayor.
The incident happened during Constantino’s interview with Montemayor on ANC’s ‘In Focus’ where she asked the candidate about the supposedly $15-M donation Moreno received from Bill Gates.
Montemayor replied it would be best to ask Moreno about this issue and he has no plan of revealing his source ‘unless there is a court order’.
The doctor also accused Moreno of paying ‘a lot of media’ to make it look like his allegation was false, while the fact-checker of Facebook and You Tube supposedly agreed it’s true.
But Constantino clarified that Gate’s donation actually went to the water sanitation and hygiene projects for the city of Manila, thus, how is it possible that Montemayor’s accusation is correct.
She went on to question the authenticity and inconsistency of Montemayor’s allegation, as well as his confusing statements.
“So, which one should we believe?” Constantino asked.
It was at this point that Montemayor insinuated ANC and ABS-CBN may have also been ‘paid’ by Moreno.
“Well, if you will just research, you are in the media, you should have known better, unless Isko Moreno paid the ANC and ABS-CBN..,” he said.
But Constantino did not let Montemayor finished his sentence and shot back.
“I’m sorry. I’m not gonna [let that] pass, Dr. Montemayor. We are not in the business of getting paid. I am personally insulted by that insinuation,” she retorted.
The ANC achor said they can continue with the interview but added, “But let me tell you that is not an insinuation that I will take lightly. This company is not in the business of getting paid. This journalist that you’re talking to right now has never been, or ever will be paid by anyone to ask or not to ask any question.”
The interview went on for another 30 minutes after the short ‘confrontation’.
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