NEWS organization Rappler chief executive officer and journalist Maria Ressa had posted a bail of P100,000 following her arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation on the strength of a warrant from the Department of Justice.
This latest blitz against Rappler stems from a cybercrime complaint of libel filed by Chinese-Filipino businessman Wilfredo Keng, who was one of those mentioned in Rappler’s investigative report in 2012, written by Reynaldo Santos Jr. Keng, the report said, lent his sports utility vehicle to the late chief justice Renato Corona, then facing an impeachment trial. Although Keng admitted he owned the vehicle bearing the plate number the report mentioned, he emphasized that the SUV that Corona was using wasn’t his.
The report was published online in May 2012. The Cybercrime Prevention Act, or RA 10175, was approved on Sept. 12, 2012.
Keng, in his statement to media, said Rappler “through formal and informal channels, repeatedly promised me that they will take down the subject article, but never did. The libelous attacks remain posted on their website until now.”
Keng filed his complaint against Rappler Inc., Ressa and Santos Jr. in 2017. The businessman said he wants his complaint to be a “test case on how the Philippine legal and judicial system will fare against the dangerous precedent that is being set by one reckless and irresponsible member of the media and of the online community.”
Senator Leila de Lima, on the other hand, said the DOJ should have dropped the case for two reasons: One, that the law allegedly violated was non-existent by the time of publication; two, the case was filed beyond the one-year prescriptive period.
Critics of the administration view this latest case against Rappler as another attack on press freedom. In a Twitter post, Senator Chiz Escudero said: “Every Government NEEDS a free and unbridled press and should avoid sending/creative a chilling effect on members of the media.”
Malacañang spokesman Salvador Panelo, however, said this case has nothing to do with press freedom.
“We are a country of laws and every citizen must adhere to the rule of law. No one is above the law, not even high profile self-anointed crusading journalists,” he said.
Keng’s statement wasn’t too far from Panelo’s message: “It is thus high time that we remember that the foundation of our independence, democracy and freedom is based on one simple truth: no one is above the law.”
“No one is the above the law.” This is where government and Keng want to drive this case to, away from issues of press freedom. But they can say their piece while there’s a screaming precedence of serial attacks against media institutions in the last few years—Presidential speeches and litigation, both.
Let’s not kid ourselves. This is scare tactic in disguise.