MEDIA watchdogs are up in arms over the banning of a Rappler reporter in Malacañang even as the Securities and Exchange Commission said that Rappler may still operate since the Court of Appeals has yet to decide on the news’ online appeal and the government has yet to make a reply on the motion
At the same time, the SEC said it sees nothing wrong with the Palace decision to bar Rappler’s reporter from the Palace compound.
“They filed an appeal at the appellate court and SEC has to file a reply. So it is undergoing due process, but we are also confident in our original ruling,” SEC Chairperson Teresita Herbosa said.
She also opined that the Palace was “exercising its right to determine who should be granted access” when it barred the news website and its reporter Pia Ranada from covering press briefings and other events of the President.
“That is its own independent decision,” she said.
President Rodrigo Duterte had said Thursday he issued the order to ban Rappler from the Palace as it was only complying with the SEC ruling which revoked the company’s registration papers for supposedly violating foreign ownership rules. Rappler had criticized Malacañang’s move as an attempt to “intimidate independent journalists.”
Rappler’s cause drew support from Reporters Without Borders and the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, who both spoke out against the ban preventing Rappler reporter Pia Ranada from entering the Malacañang complex.
In a statement, the CMFR, said that “The message of that directive, the first by a sitting Philippine president since the Marcos dictatorship, is clear. It is that journalists can and will be prevented from doing their jobs should they, like Ms Ranada, ask government officials the tough questions that practitioners need to raise in fulfillment of their responsibility to get at the truth and to hold the powerful to account.”
It added that “Should this pass without resistance, “it will likely be followed by other acts in furtherance of the Duterte regime’s march to tyranny, among whose first casualties will be free expression and the free press.”
Duterte had banned Rappler from Malacañang a day after his aide, Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go, faced a Senate probe prompted by stories from both Rappler and the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Go’s alleged involvement in the controversial frigate deal.
In a separate statement, Daniel Bastard, head of RSF’s Asia-Pacific Desk, said it was “completely unacceptable for President Duterte to deny accredited journalists access to press conferences and events at the Malacañang Palace.”
He said the decision “not only speaks to a desire to control journalists’ work but also confirms that the Philippine authorities want to crush an independent media outlet known for the quality of its investigative reporting.”
The CMFR is a Philippine non-governmental organization (NGO) seeking to uphold press freedom and promote responsible journalism in the country.
The RSF, on the other hand, is an independent NGO for media freedom issues, with consultative status with the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF).