The company said on Wednesday (29th) that it had decided to shut down the news site Rappler, co-founded by Nobel Peace Prize-winning Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, a day before its nemesis, President Rodrigo Duterte, stepped down from power. .
Ressa has been fiercely critical of Duterte and the deadly war on drugs he launched after he took over the presidency in 2016, which has earned the journalist and the Rappler website a long list of allegations, investigations and attacks.
The closing order was issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines.
In a statement, the agency confirmed that Rappler’s “foundation papers were revoked” for violating “constitutional and regulatory restrictions on foreign ownership in the media.”
Rappler said the decision “effectively confirms” the company’s shutdown, but said he plans to appeal the measure, calling the process “very erratic”.
Ressa assured him that the site would remain operational during the legal battle. “We continue to work as usual,” said the journalist.
The site has had to struggle to survive in the face of government allegations that it violated a constitutional provision that outlawed foreign-owned funds, tax evasion and cyber defamation.
Duterte once called Rappler a “fake news site”.
Maria Ressa, who also holds US citizenship, and Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for their efforts to “protect freedom of expression”.
Muratov’s newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, suspended its operations in Russia in March after a law was passed punishing those who criticized the invasion of Ukraine.
Ressa faces seven more lawsuits, including an appeal against a six-year prison sentence for libel.
The International Center for Journalists has asked the government to overturn the decision.
“Legal harassment not only costs Rappler time, money and energy. It allows online violence designed to silence independent journalism,” the organization said on Twitter.
The order for Rappler’s closure was announced on the eve of Rodrigo Duterte’s departure from the presidency. On Thursday, the inauguration of Ferdinand Marcos Jr, son of the late dictator of the same name, whose government has been stigmatized with abuse and corruption, will take place.
Activists fear the presidency is an even worse time for the country’s human rights and freedom of expression.
source: Noticias
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