MANILA, Philippines – There’s a little war going on in the newsroom of a broadcasting giant.

Copies of a letter purportedly written by Korina Sanchez, one of ABS-CBN’s anchors against reporter RG Cruz and addressed to management, are making the rounds of employees.

In the letter, a copy of which was furnished the Philippine Daily Inquirer last weekend, Cruz was assailed for “attacks” that he had posted in his Facebook account against a “First Lady wannabe … who would eventually be a bad spouse” and a “queen in her head without a crown.”

Sanchez is engaged to be married to Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas, the Liberal Party president, who announced his withdrawal from the presidential race for Senator Benigno Aquino III. Roxas, however, might be drafted as the LP vice presidential bet.

The letter writer said she came to know of the “tirades” from colleagues at the network.

"Suffice it to say that the tirades against whom Cruz eventually admitted was Korina Sanchez were as creative as creativity can many times be borne of spite and utter, utter hatred,” the letter read.

The writer also said she could hardly remember who Cruz was in the newsroom, only that he was wont to wear long coats “much like Keanu Reeves [did] in the movie ‘[The] Matrix.’”

“I once thought it to be cute and fantasized my fiancé Mar in one of those, wondering, ‘Hmmm, maybe this outfit would do it for him and give an extra five percentage points in the surveys,’” the writer said, adding:

“We always have the same reaction to every idea – it is ability, track record, integrity, honesty, diligence, intelligence, compassion and vision that should bring an aspirant to his rightful place in history, stupid. Not long coats!”

“Sad as it is, it is not surprising that, in my experience of more than 20 years of work in the company, there may always be someone like RG Cruz who will just be the way they are without rhyme or reason. There have been many batches before RG that I have seen, suffered and survived. I guess he represents his batch.”

The letter writer suggested legal actions, and said the company should lay down policies concerning employees’ comments in cyberspace:

“My advice is, ignore. And then, when you feel it has become too much, report to our superiors. If the regulations and the law warrant, push for management action, even a sanction, even a lawsuit.

“In the interest of sound policy covering such misdemeanors to protect its employees and talents and maintain the civility required of us all to achieve company goals – as painlessly as humanly possibly – I have inquired with management and have urged them to take a closer look at the cyberworld as public domain and which is a potent instrument for destruction and unwarranted personal aggravation of its victims, especially in the hands of co-employees.”

"... Facebook, designed as it may be for ‘friends,’ is essentially public.”

Continued the letter writer: “Slanderous comments are, arguably, considered published. ‘Blind item’ lawsuits have been won in Philippine courts as well. As long as more than a certain number of people can identify, without a doubt, the unnamed victim of slander and character assassination, the offense is actionable.

“Many of us in the news business have often thought, felt that we are as big or powerful as those we cover. Our indifference and sarcasm say so. And too many times I have, myself, dismissed acts of greatness and sacrifice as just ‘one of those things.’”

“Having taken this long a leave of absence from my years of work in broadcast for the first time and finding myself participant in something so important to this country, its people and its future I now see even more clearly how small and insignificant each of us is in the much bigger picture affecting 90 million lives. That is, until we think, act, speak and, most of all, do something to become the difference, make a difference for the good and become… bigger. Or do something or nothing to make us even smaller, more insignificant. We might as well just disappear.”

The letter also addressed Cruz. “So to you, RG Cruz, I say, I hope that – as your Facebook entry narrated – as you were ‘eating chocolate’ and indulging your gastronomical cravings while events at Club Filipino on the 2nd of September 2009 were unfolding and all you could think of and delight in, as written in your Facebook, are your cruel attacks, pettiness, inanities and insensitivities to the sacrifice of others and, horror of horrors, make these public – you will, henceforth, attempt to save yourself from the very real prospect of disappearing, leaving this world without a trace, no better and even worse than when you found it.”

Cruz told the Inquirer that he was reserving the right to respond to the letter at the appropriate time.

Asked to comment, Maria Ressa, ABS-CBN senior vice president for news and current affairs, referred the Inquirer to the company’s corporate communications division headed by Bong Osorio.

In a text statement sent to the Inquirer, Osorio, head of ABS-CBN’s Corporate Communications division, said management was “looking into” the issue “and we will determine what actions to take in relation to the actuations of the people involved in the issue.”

UP Journalism Professor Danny Arao told the Inquirer that while Cruz had every right to make whatever statements in the Internet, his comments should have been constructive.

“I feel it’s a little too personal. But comments like those should have been in context of professionalism and constructive criticism,” he said.