Rappler sought the side of Pineda through his official email address on January 2, but he said he still had to “consult” with his “superior.” We followed up on January 3, January 19, and January 23. We also called the Export Management Program to reach him on Thursday, January 23, but he was not in the department. There were no further replies to our emails as of posting time. We will update this story once we get a reply from him.

