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How the Philippines Cleverly Punished the CEO of a News Outlet that had
Posted Years of Critical Reports

Ralph Jennings

   TAIPEI, TAIWAN - A Manila Regional Trial Court branch convicted the
   chief executive of popular media outletRapplerof cyber-libel Monday in
   a case seen as back-handed retaliation over a string of articles
   critical of the Philippine president.

   The court ruled thatRapplerCEO Maria Ressa and former researcher-writer
   Reynaldo Santos Jr. had committed cyber-libel, a first for Philippine
   journalists, over a report posted in 2012. Each faces a jail term of up
   to six years,Rapplerreported.

   Philippine authorities got the pair on cyber-libel, a charge usually
   aimed at pornographers and stalkers, through flukes of timing and
   details of the law itself, analysts of the case believe.

   The government of President Rodrigo Duterte was suspected of pushing
   legal agencies to seek the conviction because it resentsRapplerfor
   reports that criticize its policies. The verdict dovetails with the
   Duterte government's anti-fake news laws and its restrictions on
   reporters going out during the national anti-coronavirus lockdown, his
   critics say.

   "We're under lockdown, we have a pandemic and the government seems
   intent on controlling free speech, so this is a very dangerous
   situation," said Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the Manila-based
   Bagong Alyansang Makabayan alliance of leftist political organizations.

   Human Rights Watch said, "The verdict against Maria Ressa highlights
   the ability of the Philippines' abusive leader to manipulate the laws
   to go after critical, well-respected media voices, whatever the
   ultimate cost to the country." Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at
   HRWadded,"TheRapplercase will reverberate not just in the Philippines,
   but in many countries that long considered the country a robust
   environment for media freedom."

   Rapplerhas been the subject of 11 "cases and investigations", Ressa
   told an online news conference June 10. She rejects the cyber-libel
   charges. "I always say I have not done anything wrong that I haven't
   done in almost 35 years of being a journalist," she told the news
   conference.

   A judge has allowed Ressa to remain free on bail pending an appeal.

   Journalism advocacy groups and Ressa's lawyers point to glitches in
   timing and an unusual interpretation of the law to suggest government
   retaliation. The media outlet questions Duterte's 4-year-old, deadly
   anti-drug campaign and his intent to back away from military ties with
   the United States, for example.

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