Entertainment Web site Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) branded as an “affront to press freedom” the cease-and-desist letter sent by the camp of Annabelle Rama in connection with its coverage of her son and talent, Richard Gutierrez.

“There is no other way to say it. This is an affront to free press. It is cavalier about free speech. It totally misrepresents the nature of public figures and it is dismissive of public’s right to know,” PEP’s editor-in-chief Jo-Ann Maglipon wrote in an article uploaded on PEP Saturday.

Maglipon, however, said she could not understand why Rama wanted PEP's coverage of her son "shut down on the basis of one mistake, for which we have apologized profusely."

She noted that from Oct. 7, 2006 to April 13, 2009 PEP wrote a total of 387 stories on Gutierrez, majority of which were positive and have "been very good for his career.”

"Of the 387 times we covered Richard, we note 13 times when our coverage dealt with controversies... except for the controversy involving Aljur Abrenica (October 2008) and this one about Michael Flores (March 2009), Richard has not been agitated enough to object tothe PEP coverage," Maglipon said.

She added: "Even by sheer math alone, how can PEP be accused by the Gutierrez family as -according to reports in other media- 'negative' or attempting to 'bring Richard down' or engaging in a conspiracy 'ng mga gustong pabagsakin si Chard?'"

On April 14, Rama, through her lawyer, sent the cease-and-desist letter to PEP to stop the entertainment Web site from uploading stories on Gutierrez.

PEP’s articles on Gutierrez attract “a barrage of negative comments” targeting her son, Rama’s camp said.

“To avoid any further dispute on this particular issue and to eliminate additional controversy, our client is now asking that PEP cease and desist from uploading or publishing article about her son and talent, Richard Gutierrez, until all illegal suits have been resolved,” the letter said.

It cited a PEP story on Gutierrez filing his P25-million libel suit against the Web site. It drew at least 600 comments less than 24 hours after it was uploaded and “most of which are negative and insulting.”

The libel case was filed last April 13 after PEP uploaded a story on an alleged gun-toting incident purportedly involving Gutierrez in a birthday celebration. PEP has since removed the article from its Web site after apologizing for "prematurely" uploading the story. With The Buzz