With extortion in mind, did this "Buddy Dacer impostor" think for a moment to ask for the side of his potential victims?

Does this Buddy Dacer impersonator ever consider that he was desecrating the memory of his idol when he claimed that he was Bohol's version of the famous PR practitioner?

These were just two of the many questions bugging the mind of Antonieto "Boy"Pernia, head of the Bohol Poverty Reduction Management Office, as he tried to parry more wicked blows from "the close mind" of an associate editor of a local paper.

In a series of articles in the local paper he worked with, Amora found traces of wrongdoing with regards to Pernia's handling of coop money even if his predecessor, Primo Digao, (in the BPRMO) already admitted withdrawing P140,000 for use as campaign fund for his bid as Carmen councilor.

In a press release issued by Amora, he lamented the so-called "attempts to muzzle the press from further exposing raging issues of corruption in government".

In reaction, Pernia said it was farthest from his mind to muzzle the press when he cried foul over Amora's extortion attempt.

In fact, right after the first article came out, Pernia informed Amora that all he wanted was an objective article where his side also sees print for the readers to be provided with complete information from which to form his own opinion.

However, things turned very unfair when he wrote an article purely on Digao's side when it was Digao who did not allow the media to be present when he testified before the probe team admitting his use of federation funds. During Pernia's turn with the probe team, he allowed media to be present. Amora claimed he was not invited making Pernia his favorite whipping boy once more in succeeding articles he wrote.

In a complaint he lodged before the Bohol Tri-Media Association, Pernia minced no words in accusing Amora of extortion and blackmail in relation to alleged threats of the editor to put Pernia in a bad light if he failed to come across his demand for cover up money.

Pernia ignored Amora's demand and true to his earlier threat, he did make the BPRMO boss the main suspect in the loss of coop funds.

Pernia said when he brought his case before the media association what he had in mind was to unmask those so-called "media scalawags in press cards".

He said he heard so many unsavory stories about media men asking money from newsmakers. Until such time that he almost became a victim himself of media extortion that he decided to expose the demand of Amora for cover up money.

The quid pro quo was for Amora to extricate Pernia from bad publicity brought about by the missing coop funds in exchange for cold cash representing cover up budget.

In exposing Amora's antics, Pernia quoted at length several articles alluded to Amora about his supposed extortion activities involving two foreigners.

Quoting stories that appeared in the Post, Pernia recalled reading an article about Amora's botched partnership with a foreigner colleague who was allegedly fleeced of P8,000. The deal was for the two to buy airtime for a cable TV program that never was. The foreigner has an IOU certificate indicating that he used the P8,000 not for the cable program but for any other purpose. According to the victim's account, the P8,000 was just part of the almost P40,000 money "borrowed" from her. The editor did not bother to assure his creditor if he was going to repay her in installments or lump sum. To this day, the credit remains active and there's no telling if the borrower will keep his promise to pay it.

Email received from a reliable friend and resource in the media also showed to the Post supposedly addressed to an Australian named Sue with Fred asking for "financial assistance". However, the tenor of the request for financial help "bordered on extortion". Quoting the Australian, she told her friend in Bohol that Amora "has the hide to ask me (Australian) to pay for his children's school fees".

Meanwhile, the Post which is also in the thick of an on going fight to rid media of corrupt members is willing to be a resource person should a full blown investigation is in order with regards to Pernia's complaint.

The Post in its own reaction to Amora's representation for "fair treatment" of his side in the BPRMO controversy said that it was the editor's misfortune that he appeared to be caught while his "fingers are dipped in the cookie jar."

The Post said Amora should know that in this dog-eat-dog media environment he should be aware of an unwritten commandment "thou shall not be caught while asking money from newsmakers".