Ressa says Philippine courts to decide Rappler closure order

Jun 29, 2022, 1:16 AM | Updated: 1:20 am
A staff of Rappler monitors as Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa talks d...

A staff of Rappler monitors as Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa talks during a zoom meeting that is seen inside their office in Pasig city, Philippines on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Ressa said her Rappler news website was operating “business as usual” Wednesday and would let Philippine courts decide on a government order to close the outlet critical of the outgoing Duterte administration and its deadly drug crackdown. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa said her Rappler news website was operating “business as usual” Wednesday and would let Philippine courts decide on a government order to close the outlet critical of the outgoing Duterte administration and its deadly drug crackdown.

The Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday affirmed its revocation of Rappler’s license over a breach of the ban on foreign ownership and control of media outlets.

The case is one of several against Ressa and Rappler seen as part of an assault on press freedom under President Rodrigo Duterte, who leaves office Thursday and will be succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the namesake son of the late dictator.

Ressa revealed the shutdown order against Rappler while speaking Tuesday at the East-West Center in Honolulu. “Part of the reason I didn’t have much sleep last night is because we essentially got a shutdown order,” Ressa told the audience.

She told reporters later in a Zoom interview that Rappler would continue to stand up for its rights. “You’ve heard me state repeatedly over the last six years that we have been harassed. This is intimidation. These are political tactics. We refuse to succumb to them,” Ressa said.

Rappler’s attorney, Francis Lim, said the website had legal remedies available to question the SEC’s administrative decision in the courts. “And we are confident that at the end of the day we shall prevail,” Lim said Wednesday in Manila.

“Rappler is facing government retaliation for its fearless reporting about rights abuses in the ‘drug war,’ Duterte and Marcos’ use of disinformation on social media, and a wide variety of rights abusing actions over the past six years,” Phil Robertson, the deputy Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. “This is an effort to shut up Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, and shut down Rappler, by hook or by crook.”

Ressa and Russian Dmitry Muratov last year became the first working journalists in more than 80 years to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Muratov’s newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, suspended operations in March after pressure from Russian authorities. It was the last major independent media outlet critical of President Vladimir Putin’s government left in Russia after others either closed or were blocked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Ressa co-founded Rappler in 2012. After Duterte took office in 2016, it increasingly began reporting on the nighttime police raids that left hundreds and then thousands of mostly poor, petty drug suspects dead in overwhelmed morgues. Police said they were acting in self-defense when officers gunned down alleged drug dealers. Few suspects were questioned in what human rights activists soon described as extrajudicial executions.

Duterte and other Philippine officials have said the criminal complaints against Ressa and Rappler were not a press freedom issue but part of normal judicial procedures arising from their alleged violations of the law.

However, Duterte has openly lambasted journalists and news sites who report critically about him, including the country’s largest TV network, ABS-CBN, which was shut down in 2020 after lawmakers refused to renew its 25-year license.

As Rappler’s president and CEO, Ressa faces several criminal complaints over the website’s news operations. She was convicted of libel in 2020 and sentenced to six years in prison but has remained free on bail while the case is on appeal.

___

AP journalists Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu and Kiko Rosario in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


              Lilibeth Frondoso, right, Rappler Multimedia Strategy and Growth Head, talks to a staff inside their office in Pasig city, Philippines on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa said her Rappler news website was operating “business as usual” Wednesday and would let Philippine courts decide on a government order to close the outlet critical of the outgoing Duterte administration and its deadly drug crackdown. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
            
              A staff member of Rappler monitors as Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa talks during a zoom meeting that is seen inside their office in Pasig city, Philippines on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Ressa said her Rappler news website was operating “business as usual” Wednesday and would let Philippine courts decide on a government order to close the outlet critical of the outgoing Duterte administration and its deadly drug crackdown. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
            
              A reporter of Rappler walks inside their office in Pasig city, Philippines on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa said her Rappler news website was operating “business as usual” Wednesday and would let Philippine courts decide on a government order to close the outlet critical of the outgoing Duterte administration and its deadly drug crackdown. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
            
              A staff of Rappler monitors as Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa talks during a zoom meeting that is seen inside their office in Pasig city, Philippines on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. Ressa said her Rappler news website was operating “business as usual” Wednesday and would let Philippine courts decide on a government order to close the outlet critical of the outgoing Duterte administration and its deadly drug crackdown. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
            
              FILE - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, from the Philippines, attends a news conference in Oslo, Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. Ressa announced in a speech in Hawaii, Tuesday, June 28, 2022, that the Philippine government is affirming a previous order to shut down Rappler, the news website she co-founded, which has gained notoriety for its reporting of President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody crackdown on illegal drugs. (Hakon Mosvold Larsen/NTB scanpix via AP, File)

AP

FILE - Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer speaks inside the Recorders Office, Nov. 9, 2022, in...
Associated Press

Dominion conspiracies highlighted by Fox lawsuit have election officials concerned for safety

Maricopa County officials are bracing for what could happen when it comes time to replace its contract for voting equipment.
1 day ago
A building is damaged and trees are down after severe storm swept through Little Rock, Ark., Friday...
Associated Press

Tornado causes widespread damage to buildings, vehicles in Little Rock

A tornado raced through Little Rock and surrounding areas Friday, splintering homes, overturning vehicles and tossing trees.
1 day ago
FILE - Former President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in flight on his plane after a cam...
Associated Press

Worries grow that Trump indictment could undermine public confidence in other investigations

Trump’s attempts to overturn those results amid false claims of widespread fraud are at the heart of two other ongoing investigations.
1 day ago
(Facebook Photo/Superior Court of Arizona in Yavapai County)...
Associated Press

Arizona judge has cases reassigned following DUI arrest

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that all cases currently assigned to a Yavapai County Superior Court judge recently arrested on suspicion of extreme DUI will be reassigned to other judges.
5 days ago
Haitian migrant Gerson Solay, 28, carries his daughter, Bianca, as he and his family cross into Can...
Associated Press

US, Canada to end loophole that allows asylum-seekers to move between countries

President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced a plan to close a loophole to an immigration agreement.
8 days ago
Expert skateboarder Di'Orr Greenwood, an artist born and raised in the Navajo Nation in Arizona and...
Associated Press

Indigenous skateboard art featured on new stamps unveiled at Phoenix skate park

The Postal Service unveiled the “Art of the Skateboard" stamps at a Phoenix skate park, featuring designs from Indigenous artists.
8 days ago

Sponsored Articles

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...
Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.
...
Fiesta Bowl Foundation

Celebrate 50 years of Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Parade magic!

Since its first production in the early 1970s, the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl Parade presented by Lerner & Rowe has been a staple of Valley traditions, bringing family fun and excitement to downtown Phoenix.
...
Quantum Fiber

How high-speed fiber internet edges out cable for everyday use

In a world where technology drives so much of our daily lives, a lack of high-speed internet can be a major issue.
Ressa says Philippine courts to decide Rappler closure order