Peanut Gallery Media Network (PGMN) Founder and Chief Executive Officer Franco Mabanta maintained his and his companions’ innocence, claiming that their arrest was a “setup” intended to silence them at the brink of a “breathtaking” corruption exposé.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, Mabanta said he and his team had just finished a five-month long report uncovering the severity of Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez’s corruption during his time as House speaker.
“Over the last five months, PGMN completed immense, comprehensive, painful research on the breathtaking national corruption of Martin Romualdez while he was Speaker of the House. What we have is devastating,” Mabanta declared.
The 90-minute episode brimming with hard evidence has been edited and was ready for release, making the timing of the arrest uncanny.
“Romualdez did this to silence us—why? Because the timing of the release of our exposé would leave him in a desperate situation, particularly with his vast current troubles with the Ombudsman hanging over his head, as President Marcos signals that he’s clearly listening to what the whole country wants, and is at last willing to hold accountable the man widely believed to have sabotaged the first three years of his administration,” the online media founder said.
He firmly asserted that PGMN had not extorted Romualdez for hundreds of millions in pesos—as alleged by the lawmaker’s camp—for which they have proof.
“There was no extortion. There were ZERO threats from us. That’s all bullshit. The ‘evidence’ provided showed one side of the story. We committed NO CRIME: AND WE CAN PROVE IT,” Mabanta wrote.
He shared that days before their arrest, his he and his team had been warned repeatedly by multiple friends in power. They were concerned for the team’s physical safety, anticipating they might be harmed or killed by hitmen.
In view of these warnings, prior to his arrest, Mabanta instructed his legal teams and trusted allies to fully publish the controversial episode on all key social media platforms should anything happen to them.
“We at PGMN have always taken profound and sincere pride in going after the bad guys. Yesterday we made the difficult choice to go after the worst of them all,” he said, adding that he was willing to pay the price for doing the right thing, and that he wishes to set an example for his sons.
“Dear Martin, You know what you did to the country. We know what you did to the country. Soon, hopefully, everyone will too,” Mabanta addressed the former House head.
On Tuesday evening, Mabanta and four others were arrested at Valle Verde Country Club in Pasig City. He was discovered to be in possession of marked money—currency used by law enforcement to track criminal activity like extortion.
