SAN DIEGO - The unceremonious dismissal of the editor of the oldest Filipino newspaper in America was part of a need for leadership change in the organization and not a curtailment of press freedom, a family member of the controlling owners said.

Claims to the contrary are "patently frivolous and untrue," explained John Espiritu who said he is a member of the board of Philippine News, the 46-year-old newspaper founded in San Francisco in 1961 by journalist-turned-political lobbyist Alex Esclamado.

The paper sacked Lito Gutierrez, its editor for the last five years, on Saturday (June 22) over what he said was an attempt by the paper's management to censor a story about a Filipino businessman who is claimed to be one of its biggest advertisers.

Gutierrez said he had refused to set aside the story involving San Francisco businessman Carlos Araneta even when ordered to do so, thus triggering his expulsion. He said it wasn't the first time management had instructed him to kill a story involving big advertisers.

Araneta had been ordered to pay $25 million to his partners who had accused him of depleting the assets of their partnership in an unnamed bank, according to Gutierrez.

Araneta also happened to head LBC, the cargo and remittance company, which Gutierrez claimed, is a major advertiser of Philippine News. LBC is not involved in the Araneta case.

Gutierrez's accusations were belied by Espiritu in an internet reply posted by media blogger and community activist Bobby Reyes in his Mabuhay Radio website at( www.mabuhayradio.com).

"With respect to the charges that Mr. Gutierrez was terminated for editorial issues, I can say that they are patently frivolous and untrue," Espiritu explained. "There was never a suppression of any story as he claims," he added.

Efforts by this writer to get the official comments of Espiritu's family directly involved in the daily running of the paper had been fruitless. None of the Espiritus even acknowledged the request as early as when the story broke out during the weekend.

Gutierrez's explanation for his removal is contradicted by Long Beach-based writer Malou Mariano, who is apparently a friend of the Espiritus.

"It is also my understanding that LBC has not been an active advertiser for the past two to four years, a far cry from being 'a major advertiser' as claimed by the terminated editor of Philippine News," she said in her internet posting.

"What pressure from advertiser for Francis Espiritu of PN to supposedly 'kill the story' on the Aranetas are they talking about?," Mariano asked.

Though Gutierrez tries to picture himself as an impartial editor, Reyes, the arch-nemesis of Esclamado, pointed to a different person who appeared beholden to his friends and patrons, notably Esclamado himself and the organization he founded after retirement, the National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA).

During his tenure, Gutierrez refused to publish letters of protests denouncing the one-sided articles of columnists Lourdes Ongkeko and Rodel Rodis and stories about the monetary scandals in the paper-huge NaFFAA, according to Reyes.

The paper's staunch refusal to publish articles critical of its policies and practices only proved, Reyes stressed, that the Philippine News "never followed the tenets of press freedom".

"And now, Mr. Gutierrez cries foul because he refused to spike a story? He has been doing it all the years he was working for the PN. What happened to Mr. Gutierrez is just the dramatization of 'poetic justice', " Reyes stated.

Espiritu, on the other hand, said: "The cornerstone of the paper is freedom of the press. The newspaper strives every week, for the last 46 years to report objectively, a fair and unbiased side to every story. This did not change overnight." (Comments may be sent to the author at DiarioV@aol.com)