Last updated on August 10th, 2024 at 07:40 pm
Philippine news site Rappler co-founded by Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa can continue to operate after a court overturned its shutdown order given by the SEC according to the ruling released on Friday. It’s a huge legal victory for the media outlet.
Ressa and Rappler have been fighting multiple court cases filed during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s ruling. Maria Ressa who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 was a staunch vocal critic of Duterte and the deadly drug war he launched in the Philippines during his term as President in 2016.
That’s what triggered media advocates’ term as a grinding series of criminal charges, probes, and online attacks against her and her news organisation. In July 2023, the court of Appeals issued the decision reversing the previous ruling by the SEC that had ordered the shutdown of Rappler.
The court gave a statement saying, “The SEC order was a grave abuse of discretion and contravened established procedures, jurisprudential and legal instructions, and clear intent of the constitution.”
The SEC instructed Rappler to shutdown its office on June 28, 2022 days before Duterte left the President’s office. The order was given revoking Rappler’s “certificate of incorporation” for violating constitutional and statutory restrictions on foreign ownership in the mass media.
Under the constitution of the Philippines, investment in media is restricted to Filipinos and Filipino controlled entities. The case was started from the time when US based Omidyar Network invested in Rappler in 2015. After a point of time, Omidyar transferred its investment that it had made in Rappler to local managers so that the website didn’t get affected by Duterte’s administrative powers.
Human rights activists such as Carlos Conde after the ruling of the court said, “justice and good sense have prevailed. The Court of Appeals decision to void the SEC shutdown order against Rappler was long overdue.”
Last year there was an accusation made at the Nobel Laureate that she had illegally put Rappler under foreign control and was acquitted on charges of tax evasion. She along with a former colleague are still fighting against a ruling that if imposed then can result in a sentence of 7 years in prison. Along with that she alone can face up to 15 years in jail if convicted for the FDI of Omidyar in Rappler.
