Journalist Maria Ressa Arrested Yet Again As Philippines Keeps Finding Bogus Reasons To Arrest Vocal Critic

from the hold-the-line dept

As we've discussed before, reporter Maria Ressa is a powerhouse journalist, who started an important Filipino news site, Rappler.com. Rappler has been (quite reasonably) highly critical of the Filipino government under President Duterte, and over the past few years, the Duterte government has responded with a bunch of highly questionable criminal complaints against Ressa, which all appear to be in direct violation of the country's 4th Amendment, which is a near carbon copy of the American 1st Amendment. It forbids any law that abridges the freedom of the press (among other things).

And yet... for over a year now, the government has been trying to claim that Rappler violated the so-called anti-Dummy law in the Philippines. Apparently, the Philippines has a law that says, in certain types of industries, Filipino companies cannot have foreign ownership (this, by itself, already seems silly, but leaving that aside...). Rappler does not have any foreign owners. However, it did receive a grant from the well known Omidyar Network, and in order to receive the grant, Rappler used a semi-complicated system called a Philippine Depository Receipt (PDR), in which the company sells these assets to Omidyar, and the assets are pegged to the value of shares in the company, but they grant no ownership benefits or rights. The Filipino government has said for a while that these create a "dummy status" in pretending Omidyar isn't really taking an ownership stake when it is.

All of that is nonsense, though. This is entirely about intimidating Ressa and Rappler. Last month she was arrested on bogus "cyber libel" charges (over violating a law that wasn't even a law when the supposed "libel" happened). And now, on arriving back in the country from a journalism conference abroad, Ressa was immediately arrested yet again. As Rappler notes, this is actually the 11th case filed against Rappler, its directors and its staff since the government first claimed that the Omidyar grant violated the law.

This is shameful, if not surprising, by the Duterte government. Of course, it also demonstrates just how scared they are of a tiny independent news organization. If that's the case, it makes you wonder just what it is they're afraid Rappler will be reporting going forward...

Filed Under: dummy law, intimidation, journalism, maria ressa, ownership, philippines, rodrigo duterte
Companies: rappler

Utter Bullshit: Reporter Maria Ressa Arrested Over Bogus Charges For Her Critical Reporting

from the free-speech-has-to-matter dept

We've written about reporter Maria Ressa, who started the successful news site The Rappler in the Philippines. Ressa, herself, is a force of nature, who has upset a lot of people with her incredibly detailed and thorough reporting. Last year, we wrote about how the Duterte government was trying to intimidate and silence her with bogus charges, claiming that because she had accepted grant money from US foundations, she was engaged in tax evasion.

Today things ramped up quite a bit with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) (the Filipino equivalent of the FBI) coming to arrest Ressa at her offices, claiming that she violated a "cyberlibel" law. Incredibly, the article that the government claims is libelous... was written four months before the law they claim it violated actually became law.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended the filing in court of cyber libel charges against Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr over a story published in May 2012 – or 4 months before the law that they allegedly violated was enacted.

The case, filed by the DOJ, stemmed from a complaint by businessman Wilfredo Keng, who was identified in a Rappler article as the owner of the SUV that then-chief justice Renato Corona had used during the impeachment trial.

Keng complained not about his alleged ownership of the vehicle, but about the backgrounder on him as having alleged links to illegal drugs and human trafficking, based on intelligence reports.

When the officers came to arrest Ressa at her office, some of her colleagues tried to film the situation on their mobile phones, and the NBI agents tried to get them to stop:

In response to this Rappler has said it will not give in to the intimidation:

“We are not intimidated. No amount of legal cases, black propaganda, and lies can silence Filipino journalists who continue to hold the line. These legal acrobatics show how far the government will go to silence journalists, including the pettiness of forcing me to spend the night in jail.”

The statement further lays out why the charges are clearly bogus and trumped up:

A complaint was filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng 5 years after a story was published on May 29, 2012, or months before the cybercrime law was enacted. Our story said former chief justice Renato Corona used a vehicle registered under the name of Mr Keng, who, based on intelligence reports and previously published stories, had alleged links to illegal drugs and human trafficking. We called Mr Keng and got his side before the story was published.

The filing of the case is preposterous and baseless. No less than NBI Cybercrime Division chief Manuel Eduarte closed an investigation in February 2018 after finding no basis to proceed, given that the one-year prescriptive period had lapsed. Eight days later, however, the NBI revived the case, and filed it with the Department of Justice on the basis of a theory they call "continuous publication."

This is a dangerous precedent that puts anyone – not just the media – who publishes anything online perennially in danger of being charged with libel. It can be an effective tool of harassment and intimidation to silence critical reporting on the part of the media. No one is safe.

This is why in the US (and other countries) we have what's known as the single publication rule, in that the date of original publication is the date at which any statute of limitations clock starts ticking (mostly). Yet, it appears the Philippines is arguing for no single publication rule and that "continuous publication" means liability can last forever. Furthermore, even if this was libelous (which sounds questionable), shouldn't libel be a civil matter between two private parties, rather than involving the criminal justice system?

And, of course, remember, that the Philippines' Constitution has a close analogue of the 1st Amendment in the US (there it's their Section 4):

No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

That would certainly suggest that the law being used to arrest Ressa is unconstitutional. Various journalism organizations are already condemning this arrest as a clear attempt at silencing Ressa and Rappler in their critical reporting of the Duterte government:

"The Philippine government's legal harassment of Rappler and Ressa has now reached a critical and alarming juncture," said Shawn Crispin, CPJ's senior Southeast Asia representative. "We call on Filipino authorities to immediately release Ressa, drop this spurious cyber libel charge, and cease and desist this campaign of intimidation aimed at silencing Rappler."

Filed Under: cyberlibel, defamation, free speech, libel, maria ressa, nbi, philippines, renato corona, rodrigo duterte, wilfredo keng
Companies: rappler

Philippines Continues To Spit On Free Speech; Plans To Charge Key Media Critic With Bogus Claims Of Tax Evasion

from the enemy-of-the-people? dept

At the beginning of this year, we had a fairly long post about a dangerous situation brewing in the Philippines, where President Duterte was clearly trying to retaliate against one of his chief media critics, The Rappler, run by Maria Ressa. As I mentioned, I got to see Ressa speak at a conference last year, and the former CNN bureau chief is a force of nature who seems completely devoted to accurately reporting on President Duterte, no matter how much he dislikes it.

When we wrote about Ressa and Rappler in January, it was over some trumped up charges concerning claims of "foreign ownership." That story is a bit complex, but in order to get a grant from the philanthropic Omidyar Network, Rappler sold what are known as Philippine Depository Receipts (or PDRs). PDRs do have value, which are tied to the value of shares in the company, but which don't grant any of the related ownership rights. And yet, Duterte and the Filipino SEC have been arguing that Rappler committed tax evasion by somehow "not reporting" the PDR's.

Rappler notes that's a complete fabrication:

Tiglao argues that Rappler’s PDR sale “is not reported in its financial statements submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.” (SEC)

This does not seem right.

Rappler’s financial statements and SEC general information statements have been posted on the internet. You can compare these financial statements to those in the prospectuses of ABS-CBN and GMA in the years these media companies sold PDRs, which show how PDRs are recorded by top audit firms.

Furthermore, Rappler notes that the law is pretty clear that if you sell PDRs to fewer than 20 people, you are exempt from registration requirements.

But, of course, none of this is actually about taxes and financial statements. It's about intimidating and silencing a free (and critical) press. And that's what's happening. The government has announced that it is going to charge Rappler and Ressa with tax evasion charges that basically everyone can see is completely bogus. Here's the UN's free speech guru (and recent Techdirt podcast guest) David Kaye calling out what a travesty this is:

At a time when authoritarian leaders around the world are increasingly targeting and threatening the press, we should be extra vigilant over how these attacks are expanding in both scope and in brazenness.

Here is a case where it seems quite clear that the charges are being trumped up based on Rappler's reporting, rather than based on anything even remotely legitimate. And whether or not Ressa and Rappler continue is beyond the point. The message to anyone else who wants to follow in their shoes is "don't bother, we'll make your life a living hell." Obviously that won't (and shouldn't) stop many reporters, but it can have an enormous chilling effect on many, many people.

Filed Under: censorship, chilling effects, free press, free speech, intimidation, maria ressa, philippines, rodrigo duterte, tax evasion
Companies: omidyar network, rappler

Philippines Trying To Shut Down Popular News Site For Reporting On President Duterte

from the freedom-of-the-press? dept

The Philippines has a "free speech" amendment in their Constitution not unlike the American First Amendment. In the Philippines, it's actually their 4th amendment:

No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.

From Filipinos I've spoken to, they seem rightfully proud of this right to free speech. And they should be. But these things only matter if they're actually respected. And there's growing evidence that, under President Duterte, there's little respect for such things. A few days ago, the news broke that the Philippines Securities and Exchange Commission was pulling the license of Rappler, a popular Filipino news source started by Maria Ressa. I was privileged to hear Ressa speak at a conference last summer (she was originally supposed to be a participant in a session that I was organizing, but it was much better having her speak separately about the challenges she was facing in covering news in the Philippines). Rappler has really done some amazing work under fairly challenging circumstances.

And... it appears that those challenging circumstances are leading the government in the Philippines to try to shut them down. The official reason for pulling the license is the claim from the SEC that Rappler has violated rules concerning foreign ownership.

The En Banc finds Rappler, Inc. and Rappler Holdings Corporation, a Mass Media Entity and its alter ego, liable for violating the constitutional and statutory Foreign Equity Restriction in Mass Media, enforceable through laws and rules within the mandate of the commission

That, alone, should raise some questions about (1) why they need a license to operate and (2) why it matters how much is owned by foreigners. But the larger issue is that it's not at all clear that the supposed foreign ownership claim is accurate. It does appear that Rappler engaged in a fairly cumbersome financial transaction to allow foreign entities -- including the Omidyar Network -- to help fund its reporting. And some of that involved "Philippine Depository Receipts" or PDRs whose value is tied to the value of Rappler equity -- but which do not grant any actual ownership stake in the company. To the SEC in the Philippines, this appears to be a meaningless distinction, but it actually makes plenty of sense. You can sell an asset class that is tied to the value of something else without it granting equity in the original thing.

What this really comes down to is that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is not at all happy with Rappler's coverage of his administration -- and has a history of directly calling out Rappler, and falsely claiming that it's "fully owned by Americans." Earlier this week, while denying having anything to do with the SEC pulling Rappler's license, he also made it clear that he has no problem attacking the site:

Earlier this week, Mr Duterte had addressed a Rappler reporter, saying "you have been throwing trash... If you are trying to throw garbage at us, then the least that we can do is explain how about you? Are you also clean?"

And, as if to make the point even stronger that the Philippines is moving away from its Constitutional support of free speech, some legislators in the Philippines are trying to amend the Constitution to massively weaken the free speech protections in the country, such that they only apply to the laughably vague "responsible exercise" of free speech:

"In the Bill of Rights, we see everything there to be acceptable, except Article 3, Section 4 (freedom of speech)," Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro (2nd district) said Tuesday during the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments' hearing on the proposed amendments to the Constitution.

A subcommittee proposed to reword the provision to read, "No law shall be passed abridging the 'responsible exercise' of freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances."

Castro said many believe the constitutional guarantee of free speech has been "unrestrained."

"There is so much abuse of this freedom," he added.

That's... quite a statement. First of all, if your freedom of expression protections are limited to the "reasonable exercise" of free speech you have no free speech protections, because the government can and will always define speech it dislikes as unreasonable (see Duterte's comments above). Second, the whole point of protecting freedom of expression is that it's "unrestrained." To complain about that seems preposterous. Similarly what Castro sees as "abuse of this freedom" actually means "exercising of this freedom in a way I dislike." And that's the point of having true support for freedom of expression -- that many times it will be disliked by the representatives of the government, but they should be unable to block it.

Unfortunately, it appears some in power in the Philippines see it entirely differently. And, thus it appears that what the Philippines has touted as freedom of expression may be anything but that. Thankfully, not everyone in the government agrees. As reported in Rappler (naturally), some find this problematic:

The House opposition bloc did not agree with this proposal.

"How can you define responsible? What is responsible for them? So when you say responsible, it's what favors them?" said Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano, citing the proliferation of disinformation and propaganda from online personalities who are apparent supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte.

[....]

Ifugao Representative Teddy Baguilat said this provision could be used to curtail freedom of expression.

"That's why, what happened to Rappler, that's because they feel it's not a 'responsible' media institution. And I'm sure other media institutions are threatened right now. So that's the thing, who defines?" he said.

Hopefully cooler heads prevail. Supporting freedom of expression means going all in -- and the Philippines seems to be perilously close to completely ditching the concept.

Filed Under: constitution, foreign ownership, free speech, maria ressa, philippines, rodrigo duterte
Companies: rappler