Duterte's government orders Rappler shutdown on last day in office | DW News
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DW News
One day before his term expires, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's government has ordered the closure of investigative website, Rappler. The independent news site, run by Nobel Prize winning journalist Maria Ressa has long been targeted by the Duterte government, for its reporting on the Philippines' Drugs War.
On Tuesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission reaffirmed its order from 2018 for the site to cease operations. Ressa, has said Rappler isn’t shutting down and that it will pursue all legal options to have the order quashed.
DW's Asia-Pacific Bureau chief Georg Matthes visited the Rappler offices in Manila and spoke to journalist Paterno Esmaquel II about what the shutdown order means for media freedom in the Philippines.
In his 2017 State of the Nation speech, Mr. Duterte singled out the news organization, saying it was “fully owned ,, https://www.rappler.com/nation/176565-sona-2017-duterte-rappler-ownership/ ” by Americans, a charge that Rappler has denied. (The Constitution prohibits foreign entities from owning domestic media organizations in the Philippines.)
Tuesday’s announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission to revoke Rappler’s operating license upholds an earlier move by the agency. In 2018 the S.E.C. said that an investment by Omidyar Network, owned by the eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, violated the restrictions on foreign ownership of domestic media.
Rappler has argued that Omidyar’s investment was not the same as owning shares, did not violate the law and did not give Omidyar Network control of its operations. Rappler has appealed its case multiple times before the Court of Appeals and the S.E.C. but lost every time. It has continued to publish while its legal battles have dragged on.
Ms. Ressa said the Tuesday decision “effectively confirmed the shutdown of Rappler.” She had announced the S.E.C. decision earlier in a speech at the International Media Conference hosted by Hawaii’s East-West Center.
In an interview from a hotel in Honolulu, Ms. Ressa said her organization would continue to appeal the decision “because the proceedings were highly irregular.”
“This is illegal,” Ms. Ressa said. “For me, this is harassment and intimidation. We’ll continue doing our jobs. In fact, our end goal is to keep swatting away at that Damocles sword.”
Maria Ressa, one of Rappler’s founders, at her desk in the office in 2018. Jes Aznar for The New York Times
Francis Lim, a lawyer representing Rappler, said the S.E.C., as an administrative agency, could not execute the decision without court approval. He said he planned to file a motion to the Court of Appeals to reconsider. If that fails, they could take the case to the Supreme Court.
“It’s not the end of the world for us,” Mr. Lim told reporters, adding that there was still a “very long process” to go.
Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, called the case a “government vendetta” against Ms. Ressa and Rappler. “The bottom line is this is an effort to shut up Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa, and shut down Rappler, by hook or by crook,” Mr. Robertson said.
Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times. She was part of the team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for public service for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. @suilee
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