Planet NAGA

Dear Attorney Carpio,

I am amused by your latest column entitled "The insolence of office."

1. I don't think even Shakespeare can help you mask the fact that you have cherry-picked your data to support a tenuous claim. This is a clear case of intellectual dishonesty.

2. You may be entitled to your own opinion, but definitely not your own set of facts. In support of the quote from the report (summary) which I highlighted in my previous email, you surely must have seen the Final Credit Rating Report and the accompanying spreadsheet comparing the Philippine cities covered by the pilot World Bank project on rating Philippine cities, which I emailed to Julma (Narvadez) per your request.

Only a biased columnist driven by the need to cherry-pick data favorable to his preconceived opinion will deliberately ignore the report's contents in its entirety. On this note, why doesn't Vox Bikol publish the main text of the (whole) Credit Rating Report so that its readers can judge for themselves who is really engaged in spinning lies and half-truths? Let's see if Fr. Wilmer Tria will be up to it.:)

3. I don't think disparaging the Standard and Poor's methods will help you get out of this mess. Not happy with its message, so you now want to shoot the messenger? Is this how a "liberal" strives to find the truth?

4. Finally, nice try on that SPUKOI issue to muddle our conversation; Rolly Campillos of the Urban Poor Affairs Office (UPAO) is more competent to clarify that matter. But no, let's stick to the topic, please; the least that will come out of it is the education of Bicol Mail's editorial writer who swallowed your propaganda hook, line and sinker.:)