Arnold Clavio on Villamor interview: ‘I went beyond my limits’

MANILA, Philippines – News anchor Arnold Clavio admitted he went beyond his limits when he interviewed Janet Lim-Napoles’ lawyer Alfredo Villamor in the GMA7 morning news show “Unang Hirit.” 

Clavio asked the public for understanding, two days after his interview sparked social media outrage. 

In the November 7 telephone interview, Villamor told Clavio he represented Napoles only for her serious illegal detention case. He said he was not in the position to answer any questions related to the pork barrel scam. Clavio demanded to know who could answer questions, and interrupted Villamor when he said it was another lawyer. 

Clavio then said Villamor had ruined his day, and continued to interrupt as Villamor reiterated again he was not the lawyer for the PDAF cases. In a tone that seemed both contemptuous and sarcastic, Clavio informed Villamor that the question had already been changed to the serious illegal detention case, and then censured Villamor for what sounded like nervous laughter at the other end of the line. “And you’re even laughing?”

‘The only laywer we knew’

In his statement, Clavio said that Villamor was the only lawyer that they knew remained Napoles’ counsel that the program had hoped to extract as much information as possible about the hearing.  

The anchor said his actions were driven by his desire to provide the public with information regarding alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles’ senate hearing. He did not explicitly apologize, although he admitted to the possibility he may have overstepped boundaries.

Listen to Clavio’s statement here:

 

The following is the text of his short statement.

“Mga Kapuso, sa mga nakapanood po sa naging interview ko no’ng Martes, ang tanging intensyon po lamang, na tulad po ninyo, ay makakuha ng impormasyon kay Atty Alfredo Villamor patungkol po sa pagpunta ni Ms. Janet Lim-Napoles sa senado.

Sa ngayon, siya lamang ang kilala naming natitirang abogado ni Janet Lim-Napoles kaya siya lamang po ang kinausap namin, na umaasang makakuha ng impormasyon tungkol sa nasabing senate hearing.

Sa sidhi kong malaman ang balita, inaamin ko po na lumampas ako sa aking limitasyon at humihingi ako ng unawa kung may nasabi man ako na wala sa lugar.“

(To the viewers of GMA7, to all those who watched my interview last Tuesday, my only intention was, the same as for all of you, to acquire information from Atty Alfredo Villamor regarding Ms. Janet Lim-Napoles’ visit to the senate.

As of now, he is the only laywer we know who remains to defend Janet Lim-Napoles, and it is why he is the only man we spoke to in the hope we could extract information about the said senate hearing.

In my intense determination to find the story, I admit I went beyond my limitations, and I ask for understanding if there was anything I said that was out of place.)

Public furor

On the day of the interview, netizens cried foul, saying Clavio’s actions were “rude” and “unprofessional. “Arnold Clavio” trended on Twitter, along with hashtags “#medyorude“ (a bit rude) and “#medyobadboy“ (a bit of a bad boy).

Watch Arnold Clavio’s interview with Alfredo Villamor here:

Vice Ganda fires back

The following day, rival Abs-cbn’s noontime variety show featured a spoof by comedian Vice Ganda. He pretended to argue with a lawyer about the ownership of a car.

Earlier this year, Clavio scolded the comedian after Vice Ganda performed a rape joke aimed at GMA7 News Head Jessica Soho.

Watch Vice Ganda’s spoof here:

This was not the first time Clavio has been at the center of social media anger. In 2012, also on “Unang Hirit,” Clavio criticized members of the Azkals, the national football team.

He said the players were only pretending to be brown-skinned, and were not genuine Filipinos. – Rappler.com