Isang presscon ang ipinatawag ni Jo-Ann Maglipon, editor-in-chief ng PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal), kahapon ng tanghali, March 31, sa 8 Spices restaurant sa Il Terrazo sa T. Morato Ave., Quezon City. Ito ay bilang pagtupad sa kasunduan nila ng talent manager na si Annabelle Rama na ihihingi niya ng paumanhin ang artikulo na inilabas ng PEP noong March 29.

May kinalaman ang artikulo sa diumano'y engkuwentro nina Richard Gutierrez at Michael Flores sa 40^th birthday party ng direktor na si Mark Reyes na ginanap sa Oceana restaurant noong Sabado ng gabi, March 28.

Sa ginanap na presscon kahapon, ikinuwento ni Ms. Maglipon ang mga pangyayari na naging dahilan para agad na ipa-pullout niya ang artikulo sa website ng PEP at ang paghingi ng paumahin sa mga pangalan na nasangkot sa pamamagitan ng isang sulat mula sa editor. (Click here to read the statement.)

HOW IT STARTED. Inilahad ni Ms. Maglipon kung paano nagsimula ang pangyayari.

"In the morning of March 29, 2009, I received word from the staff that Richard Gutierrez lost his cool at the party of director Mark Reyes," panimula niya. "The two incidents were supposed to have been one inside the restaurant and the other in the parking lot on Richard 's way home. For both incidents, there's a witness. One for the inside, one for the outside.

"I said that this is a story considering that the persons involved are very well-known in the entertainment world. However, a real study, more facts to be checked, more interviews, more investigation, dates, figures, time, must be done in order to complete a story like this.

"So I said [to the staff], 'Just proceed with the investigation.' Hours later, many hours later, the staff called again and told me that Leo Martinez [who was a guest at the party] had been interviewed and he denied that any incident happened.

"Leo said in the parking lot, he was never there, so he could not have seen anything. In the inside, he said nothing happened and as more details came from the staff, I said the story's too thin, it's too ill-researched, it's very weak, it's still full of holes. There's no way that the story can be written at this stage. Therefore, no writing, no uploading."

PHONE CALL FROM ANNABELLE. Pagkatapos daw nito ay tumawag si Annabelle kay Ms. Maglipon.

"That said, I felt perfectly fine. But by around 7 in the evening, I got a call from Miss Annabelle Rama saying that there was something in PEP and that it was hurting Richard.

"I made a phone call to my managing editor and I said, 'Is there anything on the net?' She said no because she and I were talking and we both understood that nothing was supposed to be uploaded and then when I texted this to Ms Annabelle, because I could not get in touch with her, I said, 'Zero, kahit tingnan ninyo ang site, wala. Imposible.'

She called and said, 'Ano bang imposible, binabasa ni Chard! Galit na galit si Chard!' Sabi ko, 'Sa PEP, P-E-P, nasa PEP?' And she said, "Oo, sa PEP, sa PEP. Tingnan mo, tingnan mo!'

"So I said, 'Tita Annabelle, one more call.' So I made another call. This time, nagsalubong na ang tawagan namin ng managing editor ko.  And when we got in touch with each other, she said, 'Madam, meron ngang na-upload.' Her voice was very stricken and I was very stunned. And then I said, 'Did you pull it out already?' And she said, 'Yeah, kanina pa. I pulled it out,' the moment she checked the site and it was there.

"Now, actually, what happened was essentially a failure in editorial procedure. While the top editors understood exactly what the site would not do, people at the bottom may not have understood the instruction very well. So an article was made and the editor-in-charge finished it and uploaded it without having checked with the top editors on what to do, considering it was a very sensitive article. This was really stunning."

APOLOGY MADE. Nang ma-realize daw ni Ms. Maglipon na nagkaroon ng problema, agad daw siyang humingi ng paumanhin.

"So right away, I told Tita Annabelle, 'I am really sorry. It seems like something was uploaded but it had been pulled out right away.' Then she said, 'Kailangan i-correction mo 'yan. I-correction mo 'yan kasi may mga taong nakabasa na at kailangan mag-apologize ka diyan. Public apology!'