Some context: Piers Morgan was born Piers Stefan O'Meara on 30 March 1965 in Newick, Sussex, England, to Vincent Eamonn O'Meara, an Irish-born dentist, originally from County Offaly, and Gabrielle Georgina Sybille (nee Oliver). He took his stepfather's surname and became known as Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan. He attended the independent school Cumnor House from the ages of seven to thirteen, and then Chailey School, a comprehensive secondary school in Chailey, near Lewes, East Sussex, followed by Priory School for sixth form. Morgan studied journalism at Harlow College.
As editor of the Daily Mirror, in 1996 Morgan was forced to apologise on television for the headline (rendered in upper case) "Achtung Surrender! For You Fritz Ze Euro Championship Is Over" on 25 June 1996, a day before England met Germany in a semi-final of the Euro '96 football championships.  A PS16 million package of investment in the title was rolled out from January, including the dropping of "Daily" from the masthead in February, which was later reversed. Roy Greenslade wrote in August 1999 that Morgan's editorship "has made a huge difference: his enormous enthusiasm, determination and focus is a major plus".  Morgan was the subject of an investigation in 2000 after Suzy Jagger wrote an article for The Daily Telegraph revealing that he had bought PS20,000 worth of shares in the computer company Viglen soon before the Mirror 's "City Slickers" column tipped Viglen as a good buy. Morgan was found by the Press Complaints Commission to have breached the Code of Conduct on financial journalism, but kept his job. The "City Slickers" columnists, Anil Bhoyrul and James Hipwell, were both found to have committed further breaches of the Code and were sacked before the inquiry concluded. Further enquiry by the Department of Trade and Industry in 2004 cleared Morgan of any charges. On 7 December 2005, Bhoyrul and Hipwell were convicted of conspiracy to breach the Financial Services Act. During the trial it emerged that Morgan had bought PS67,000 worth of Viglen shares, emptying his bank account and investing under his (first) wife's name, too.  The Mirror attempted to move mid-market in 2002, claiming to eschew the more trivial stories of show-business and gossip. Morgan rehired John Pilger, who had been sacked in 1985 early in Robert Maxwell's ownership of the Mirror titles.  In the wake of the Abu Ghraib torture scandal, Morgan was fired as Editor of the Daily Mirror "with immediate effect" on 14 May 2004, after refusing to apologise to Sly Bailey, then head of Trinity Mirror, for authorising the newspaper's publication of photographs which had been shown to be false. These were alleged to show Iraqi prisoners being abused by British Army soldiers from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment. When, within days the photographs were shown to be crude fakes, under the headline "SORRY..WE WERE HOAXED", the Mirror responded that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and apologised for the publication of the photographs. However, Morgan has refused to admit that the photographs were faked, and has stated that the abuse shown in the photographs is similar to the sort of abuse which was happening in the British Army in Iraq at the time.
What happen next
A: the Mirror responded that it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax"
Some context: The Principalia or noble class was the ruling and usually educated upper class in the pueblos of the Spanish Philippines, comprising the gobernadorcillo (who had functions similar to a town mayor), and the cabezas de barangay (heads of the barangays) who governed the districts. The distinction or status of being part of the principalia was a hereditary right. However, it could also be acquired, as attested by the royal decree of 20 December 1863 (signed in the name of Queen Isabella II by the Minister of the Colonies, Jose de la Concha). This distinguished upper class was exempted from tribute (tax) to the Spanish crown during the colonial period.
From the beginning of the colonial period in the Philippine, the Spanish government built on the traditional pre-conquest socio-political organization of the barangay and co-opted the traditional indigenous princes and their nobles, thereby ruling indirectly. The barangays in some coastal places in Panay, Manila, Cebu, Jolo, and Butuan, with cosmopolitan cultures and trade relations with other countries in Asia, were already established principalities (Kinadatuan) before the coming of the Spaniards. In other regions, even though the majority of these barangays were not large settlements, yet they had organized societies dominated by the same type of recognized aristocracy and lordships (with birthright claim to allegiance from followers), as those found in more established, richer and more developed principalities. The aristocratic group in these pre-colonial societies was called the datu class. Its members were presumably the descendants of the first settlers on the land or, in the case of later arrivals, of those who were datus at the time of migration or conquest.  The duty of the datus was to rule and govern their subjects and followers, and to assist them in their interests and necessities. What the chiefs received from their followers was: to be held by them in great veneration and respect; and they were served in their wars and voyages, and in their tilling, sowing, fishing, and the building of their houses. The natives attended to these duties very promptly, whenever summoned by their chief. They also paid their chief tribute (which they called buwis) in varying quantities, in the crops that they gathered. The descendants of such chiefs, and their relatives, even though they did not inherit the Lordship, were held in the same respect and consideration, and were all regarded as nobles and as persons exempt from the services rendered by the others, or the plebeians (timawas). The same right of nobility and chieftainship was preserved for the women, just as for the men.  Some of these principalities and lordships have remained, even until the present, in unHispanicized  and mostly Lumad and Muslim parts of the Philippines, in some regions of Mindanao.
What were the pre-colonial princibalities?
A:
From the beginning of the colonial period in the Philippine, the Spanish government built on the traditional pre-conquest socio-political organization of the barangay