Maria Ressa, a Nobel Prize-winning journalist from the Philippines, refused to close down Rappler’s award-winning news site on Wednesday. She defied an order by authorities to do so. This is the latest twist in the long-running battle for free speech between Rappler, Ressa and Rodrigo Duterte’s government.
Ressa stated Wednesday that she would continue to work and do business as usual, just hours after the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission had revoked Rappler’s operating licence. “We will continue to defend our rights and follow the legal process. We will not compromise our rights.”
Rappler has been critical of corruption and incompetence since its inception. It is most well-known for its detailed exposes of extra-judicial murders under President Duterte. He officially handed power over to Ferdinand “Bong Bong” Marcos Jr. this week.
Ressa called the SEC ruling an immediate response to Rappler’s focus on the Philippines’ chronic abuse of power.
She told reporters that she was being harassed and intimidated, and that these tactics are political tactics, and that she refused to give in to their demands at a press conference.
Rappler was not the first to be subject to Wednesday’s SEC decision. The agency declared that Rappler had violated the country’s restrictions against foreign media ownership in 2018. It had been funded by the Omidyar Network (a philanthropic organisation founded by Pierre Omidyar who is also the founder of eBay).
To prove that there was no foreign control of the outlet, Rappler gave the money to Rappler employees in the Philippines three years later. The SEC however ruled that the acceptance of the money was unconstitutional.
On Wednesday, the appeal against that earlier decision was allowed to stand. The initial judgment appeared to be upheld. It affirmed the conclusion that Rappler had granted Omidyar control and willfully violated the constitution.
Ressa says it’s only the latest in a long list of legal problems. Ressa was already facing numerous lawsuits, which she and her supporters in the Philippines and around all of the world consider to be politically motivated.
On Wednesday, her lawyers pledged to challenge the latest SEC ruling in court.
Ressa spoke to CBS’ 60 Minutes while on parole from a prior conviction in late 2019. She compared reporting on Philippine news to being in a war zone.
