Access Pinoy

An informant of TV giant ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. has alleged that an official from ABS-CBN’s rival GMA Network and an AGB Nielsen insider in Iloilo were involved in an alleged ratings breach in Bacolod and Iloilo.

Mark Dumago, 23, who is working as a field coordinator under a contract with a radio station in Bacolod, was presented to members of the print media on Tuesday as the ABS-CBN’s informant who blew the whistle on the TV ratings breach.

“Para malaman ng lahat na totoo yung sinasabi namin na hi-nire talaga kami ng GMA para magtrabaho dun tungkol sa AGB Nielsen (So that people will know the truth that we were hired by GMA to work on that thing with AGB),” he said in Filipino.

“Minonitor ko sa TV at narinig ko sabi ng iba kaya lumabas yan dahil nabayaran yan. Wala akong sama ng loob (sa dati kong empleyado). Gusto ko lang maliwanagan ang nangyayari sa Bacolod. Natatakot din ako dahil lumantad na nga ako [I monitored reports on TV and I have heard that some people are accusing me of having been paid to say what I have been saying. I don’t have any ill-feelings towards my former employers. I just want to shed light on what happened in Bacolod. I am afraid now that I have come out in public],” Dumago said.

Dumago related that he was contacted by an acquaintance who knew an official from GMA-7 and was given the task to survey what TV shows were watched by local residents and which station had the highest ratings.

Dumago is currently a field coordinator at a local Bacolod radio station which ABS-CBN officials requested not to be identified. A field coordinator gets feedback from homes for radio station programs.

Later, Dumago was allegedly asked to locate households with installed AGB Nielsen TV meters. He said he received a salary of P6,200 a month and P115 cellphone load monthly.

ABS-CBN said in a statement, which was corroborated by Dumago in interviews with certain ABS-CBN TV programs, that panel homes were then asked to watch the rival station’s programs in exchange for P500, plus monthly groceries. Dumago also alleged that this type of operation also happened in Davao, Cebu and Iloilo.

ABS-CBN is set to file a motion for reconsideration this week with the Quezon City regional trial court which will argue that its contract with AGB Nielsen does not stop it from going to court.

Dumago’s testimony was the basis for ABS-CBN to file a civil case against AGB Nielsen Media Research Philippines last December, which the Quezon City trial court ruled as premature and dismissed recently.

AGB Nielsen denied the alleged collusion among its employees as claimed by Dumago.

“Mr. Mark Dumago’s hearsay allegation that an AGB Nielsen insider provided information concerning AGB Nielsen panel homes to GMA is worthless.When previously interviewed by AGB Nielsen, Mr. Dumago was asked to identify the alleged insider but he was unable to do so,” the media ratings firm said in a statement.

AGB Nielsen said it was saddened that ABS-CBN “has continued to parade its informants in its broadcasts where their statements cannot be tested and verified.”

GMA Network said that there was nothing in Dumago’s testimony that was not already shown on various ABS-CBN programs.

“All are dubious and inconsistent with known facts,” GMA said in a statement.

It said it is determined to pursue libel charges against ABS-CBN for its repeated, malicious attempts to damage the network’s reputation by falsely claiming that AGB Nielsen named GMA as the party behind alleged ratings manipulation.

GMA said AGB Nielsen, through its lawyer, Francisco Rivera, already denied that AGB Nielsen named GMA Network and instead pointed to ABS-CBN as the one who named GMA.

“Despite ABS-CBN’s increasingly desperate attempts to blacken the reputation of GMA NETWORK by broadcasting malicious allegations, GMA NETWORK’s desire remains consistent: to ferret out the truth in court — rather than be subjected to ABS-CBN’s trial by publicity,” GMA said.

GMA president Felipe Gozon, in a recent trade presentation, said that Dumago and the other informants of ABS CBN, should prove the veracity of their testimonies in court “so the public can finally find out who is really telling truth and who is just spinning malicious lies.”

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