Gina Lopez recorded telling reporter: You're just a f—ing employee

Environment Secretary Gina Lopez on Thursday was recorded giving a profanity-laced tirade against a reporter amid questions about her recent order requiring a trust fund for suspended mining firms.

Lopez called BusinessWorld reporter Janina Lim "a f—ing employee," an audio recording of which was posted on InterAksyon.com

"You know, you're just a f—ing employee, why don't you have a heart for the poor?" Lopez said.

Lopez's order has come under fire from the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), which said it intends to file a complaint about it.

Later, Lopez also said to Lim: "You know you are so young and you're already bought by the greed and selfishness. I don't like it."

Lim responded, saying she was not "bought."

Lopez issued a January 30 memorandum ordering suspended mining firms to put P2 million into a trust fund to cover every hectare of land disturbed "to further mitigate the adverse impacts of the mining operations to the environment and to the affected communities."

GMA News Online reached out to Lopez for comment but she has yet to reply.

For its part, BusinessWorld expressed support for Lim while calling Lopez's actions "slanderous" and "unbecoming of a public official."

"Janina is a professional. We stand by her dignity and idealism. She 'has a heart' for news, facts, and the truth. It is unfortunate, and we are dismayed, that a public servant would attack and malign the integrity of a journalist who is simply doing her job," said BusinessWorld editor-in-chief Roby Alampay.

"Ms. Lopez's words were slanderous, her behavior unbecoming of a public official, and her hostility towards reporters who bother to simply ask questions is beyond perplexing. It has troubling implications for press freedom and the people's right to information," he added.

Sought for comment, Lopez said it was "tabloidish" for Business World to publish her "private conversation" with the reporter.

"She is a fresh graduate from school and it was just she and me - and she taped it! It is tabloidish of Business World to put a private conversation between two individuals and regard it as news," Lopez said in a text message.

"And on top of that for the editor in chief to put scathing remarks without acknowledging that the behavior of his reporter is partly to blame," she added.

Lopez said she was running late to an appointment when the reporter ambushed her with a recorder for an interview.

"It didn't help that I already don't like her because she has been on my beat for several months. And has consistently portrayed an insensitivity and lack of compassion for issues I hold dear," Lopez said.

"Yes I lost my cool and I had no intention to talk negatively about her to the world. Her bosses are pushing the issue and this is tabloidish and petty of them to say the least," she added. —Anna Felicia Bajo/JST/NB, GMA News