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- Tito Sotto claimed that the rape stories surrounding Pepsi Paloma are “fake news”.
- He has previously asked Inquirer.net to take down three articles regarding the death of the said sexy star in 1985.
It can be remembered that the Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III previously asked news site Inquirer.net to take down three articles, titled The Rape of Pepsi Paloma, Was Pepsi Paloma murdered? and Tito Sotto denies whitewashing Pepsi Paloma rape case, that were published on the publication’s website.
As of July 4, the said articles are no longer accessible. The website’s management said that, “The articles on the Pepsi Paloma case are currently under review and are unavailable at the moment,”
Sotto recently talked about the issue in an interview with Tina Monzon-Palma that aired Thursday on ANC.
“To me, these are disinformation. Once people know what is true, they’ll see it’s not. I have decided to brush them aside and not pay attention to this type of disinformation, ‘yan mga ‘original fake news,'” he stated.
Sotto said that the removal of the articles may have helped in settling the noise because “it’s fake news.”
In 1982, Pepsi Paloma has accused Joey de Leon, Vic Sotto, and Richie D’Horsey of drugging and gang raping her. Tito Sotto was said to be involved when he allegedly pressured Paloma to sign and affidavit of desistance and dropping the rape case against the three comedians.
The three were said to issue a public apology to Paloma published on People’s Journal, dated October 13, 1982.
A line in the apology read, “We hope that you will not allow the error we have committed against you to stand as a stumbling block to that future which we all look forward to. We therefore ask you to find it in your heart to pardon us for the wrong which we have done against you.”
In an interview with DZMM, Sotto denied any involvement regarding the controversy.
“Una, 1988 ho ako naging vice mayor ng Quezon City. Matagal na hong wala ‘yung kwentong ‘yun. 1982 po yung kwentong iyun eh. So, wala ho akong pakialam sa isyung ‘yun nung araw,
“Para ho sa kaalaman ng lahat… gimik ho ni Rey dela Cruz (Paloma’s manager) ‘yun. Hindi ho totoo ‘yung sinasabi. Pinagtangkaan nilang magkaso kasi tinira sila ng libel nina Vic (Sotto) at Joey (De Leon). Idinemanda sila ng libel kaya pinagtangkaan nilang balikan ng kaso.”
When the actress died in 1985, Sotto claimed that it was because of drug usage.
“Meron pa kong nababasa sa Facebook na kaya raw nagpakamatay, hindi ho, droga po ‘yun.”
