The Duterte administration will not interfere in the legal problem of the news website Rappler, the Palace said on Monday following the Court of Appeals’ ruling that the media outfit was not fully Filipino-owned.
“As we said, any case that has been filed before the courts, we will not interfere. We will let the law take its course,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo told reporters.
He said he was convinced from the start that Rappler’s case was not a press freedom issue.
“Well, definitely [not]. It’s not related,” Panelo said.
In a ruling dated March 5, the court denied Rappler’s appeal to reverse a previous order from the Securities and Exchange Commission revoking the online media outfit’s business articles of incorporation for allegedly violating the restrictions on foreign ownership.
The court stood by its earlier position that Rappler was not 100-percent Filipino-owned, adding the news website had failed to raise any new arguments about its ownership.
“The grant of control to a foreign entity over a mass media entity, regardless of Duterte the actual exercise of such foreign control, is already considered a violation,” the court said in its ruling.
“A motion for reconsideration grounded on arguments already submitted to the court and found to be without merit may be denied summarily, as it would be a useless ritual for this Court to reiterate itself.”
In January last year, the SEC decided to revoke Rappler’s certificate of incorporation for its supposed violations of foreign ownership restrictions.
The SEC said the online media outfit accepted more than $1 million worth of donations from Omidyar Network.
Rappler then challenged the SEC decision before the CA. The CA, however, said in its Feb. 21 ruling that Rappler was not 100-percent Filipino-owned and rejected the media outfit’s motion for reconsideration.
The court said Omidyar Network earned “some foreign control” when it acquired Philippine Depositary Receipts from the company.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Rappler maintained that it remained “completely Filipino-owned,” expressing confidence that the rule of law would be observed.
“We expect the SEC to now review its order and we continue to trust that the rule of law will be followed under a democratic government,” Rappler said.