From wars to Duterte: Philippine journo ‘holds the line’

PHILIPPINE journalist Maria Ressa, who was named this week as a Time magazine’s Person of the Year, has extensive experience in conflict zones, but is now fighting a war to fend off government moves to put her behind bars.

Hours after meeting bail on Tuesday on fresh ta x fraud charges that the 55-year-old insists are “manufact ured”, Ressa was na med to t he prestigious award.

The accolade, also given to murder e d S a ud i j ou r n a l i s t Ja ma l Khashoggi and imprisoned Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, highlighted those taking “great risks in pursuit of greater truth,” Time’s chief editor said.

Ressa’s news site, Rappler, has taken a critical stand on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly a nt i-dr ug crackdow n a nd now says it is t he ta rget of attacks cks from authorities.

“It is easier to nav igate a conf lict zone, a war zone t han it is to nav igate t he le ga l weapon i s at ion of laws in our countr y. But we will hold t he line,” t he Pr inceton g raduate sa id last week.

Ressa and the site have been h it w it h mult iple cou nt s of mislead i ng t he government on ta xes, and i if f conv icted on one count a lone ne she f ac e s up to a dec ade e behind bars.

It caps a tumultuous year for or Ressa, which began with the he government moving to revoke Rappler’s licence lic in Ja nuar y.

At th the same time she has received a serie series of global awards from press freed freedom advocates, including fro from the Committee to Protect Jo Journalists.

Ressa has been battling w what she calls disinformat tion under Duterte, who w won elections in mid-2016 o on a promise to rid society o of drugs by killing tens of th thousands of people. R Rappler has been among a sma small number of Philippine med media outfits producing investigativ gative reports on the killings in Dute Duterte’s anti-crime crackdown and is critical of his leadership. A journalist for more than 30 years, Ressa is no stranger to threats.

As CNN’s former bureau chief in Manila and Ja karta, Ressa specia lised in terrorism where she tracked the links bet ween globa l net works l i ke A l- Qaeda a nd mi l it a nt s i n Southeast Asia.

“I’ve been shot at. I a lmost got thrown out of a countr y. I’ve been imprisoned for a night,” she said last week.

However Ressa, who holds both American and Filipino citizenship, returned to the Philippines as news chief of the largest television network ABS-CBN for six years.

In 2012, she launched her own startup, Rappler, in the social media-obsessed Philippines.

However that website is now fighting for survival as Duterte’s govern- ment has accused it of violating a constitutional ban on foreign ownership in securing funding, as well as libel and tax evasion.

Reac t i ng to t he Time awa rd, Duterte’s spokesman Salvador Panelo said on Wednesday that charges aga i nst gover nment cr it ics were le g it i mate a nd f re e ex pre s sion remained “robust”.

Ressa, who denies all the charges, has vowed to fight back.

“We at Rappler decided that when we look back at this moment a decade from now, we will have done everything we could: we did not duck, we did not hide,” she said while accepting an award last month.

“You don’t really know who you are until you’re forced to fight to defend it.”