Rody: No harassment of Rappler
President Duterte yesterday denied there was harassment involved and that he was behind the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s order to cancel news website Rappler’s corporate registration, as he stressed that those who criticize the government should come clean.
“We never had the hand and I don’t give a s*** if you continue or not continue with your network... we never had the hand, except those people who have been attacking us below the belt,” Duterte said during the inauguration of a government satellite-based air traffic system in Pasay City.
In the press conference afterwards, he told journalists: “You are not only throwing toilet paper; you are throwing s**t at us!”
The President claimed that the question is “not about press freedom” but “the abuse of the elite and those in power.” He claimed that the elites are using the media to protect their interests, citing the case of the Mile Long property in Makati, which has been turned over to the government by the Prietos and Rufinos, owners of the broadsheet Philippine Daily Inquirer.
“You went too far… So you use media as your cover, as your influence. And all along, you were like that. You have not paid your taxes. And your taxes from billions, it’s reduced to just millions. You thought all of us in government are thieves. And you oligarchs, sons of b ****** . You thought you were clean?” Duterte said.
“Whenever we see that you have butt of the matter, you will cry harassment. Stupidity,” Duterte added, although he maintained that journalists can continue to criticize the government.
“He who comes to equity must come with clean hands. You’re even trying to, you know, throw garbage at us and then, the least we can do to explain is how about you? Are you also clean?” he added, stressing that the media “overused and abused the privilege in the guise of press freedom.”
In defending the SEC’s decision, the Chief Executive pointed out that a majority of the body’s commissioners are appointees of former president Benigno Aquino III. “There are about five, I only appointed one... How can it become political?” he said, referring to SEC commissioner Emilio Aquino.
Duterte also assailed Rappler for criticizing the government “using foreign money.”
“I will not have it closed. I do not even know that son of a b **** SEC,” the President said.
“You are shameless. You know it is being funded, even if they are not owners, you are funded by foreign money. Are you not ashamed of that?” he added, referring to Rappler, as he refuted the firm’s claim that foreign investors do not control its operations.
Duterte also labeled Rappler as “fake news” and claimed that it is not allowed by the Constitution to operate as a media outlet.
“Rappler? Your articles are (filled) with innuendos and pregnant with falsity... Since you are a fake news outlet, then I am not surprised that your articles are also fake,” the President said in an interview with reporters.
“You’re not even constitutionally allowed to go into the media... The Constitution does not really allow your company of which you are a worker of that company. You are a Filipino who was allowed to abuse our country. And you are an active participant of that. That’s the hard part. In the name of the holy grail of press freedom,” Duterte added, as he threatened to file plunder cases against huge businesses, including mall owners and telcos that are not paying the proper taxes.
DOJ probes Rappler
In other developments, Rappler could be up for more legal battles.
After the SEC revoked the media entity’s corporate registration, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has also started to look into its foreign ownership.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II yesterday revealed that his office has started a review of SEC’s decision and the legal issue involving Rappler’s ownership.
“I have directed my legal staff to study the legal issues of this case,” he told reporters.
Aside from the legal issue involving Rappler’s reported violation of the constitutional prohibition on foreign ownership, Aguirre bared that the DOJ probe would cover possible criminal liabilities of executives of the online media entity.
“Yes, it will cover all angles,” the DOJ chief stressed when asked if the probe would include criminal aspects.
In its order last Thursday, the SEC revoked Rappler’s corporate registration, saying it violated constitutional provision on foreign ownership.
Article 16, Section 11 (1) of the 1987 Constitution provides that ownership and management of media “shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly owned and managed by such citizens.”
The SEC, the commission tasked to regulate companies, specifically cancelled the multimedia news organization’s license, accusing it of effecting a “deceptive scheme to circumvent the Constitution” especially through its acquisition of funds from the Omidyar Network of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
Palace defends Duterte
Reacting to the Rappler hullaballoo, presidential spokesman Harry Roque claimed Duterte was not even aware that the SEC was about to issue a decision even if the corporate regulator’s action was prompted by a letter from the solicitor general.
“Well, he just did not like the fact that Rappler was saying this is a result of the President’s dislike for Rappler, of course not. He had nothing to do with this decision. He was not even aware that there was this decision coming up,” Roque said in a press briefing, referring to Duterte.
“All I’m saying is, in this instance, the President had nothing to do with it. It’s by individuals who were not his appointees. He could not control the majority of the commissioners and the chairperson of the SEC itself,” he added.
When reminded that the SEC made the decision because of a letter from the solicitor general, Roque said: “Well, according to the decision itself, they were looking into the matter already before the solicitor general requested the commission to look into this matter.”
Roque added that this was in the overall context of the SEC coming up with rulings interpreting the Philippines’ rules on ownership.
“If you will remember, (the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.) had the same kind of controversy on its preferred rights. So it just so happened, that at the time this decision was rendered by the SEC, there were also similar issues that the SEC decided upon which has since been ruled upon also by the Supreme Court,” he added.
Various media groups have assailed the SEC decision, calling it a threat to press freedom.
But Roque insisted that the SEC decision was not about press freedom but a violation of the Constitution.
“It was unfair of (Rappler chief executive officer) Maria Ressa to say that they’re victims of an attack on press freedom because they’re not. She defies this Philippine depositary receipt, no one told her to structure in this manner. She probably had more faith in her lawyers than she should have,” he said.
When reminded that the SEC decision came after Duterte complained about and threatened some media outlets, Roque replied: “If the President wanted to do that, he could have just sent the armed forces to their offices and padlock them, which has been done by other regimes. The President has never done that.”
‘Look into the mirror first’
Roque said media outlets who criticize government officials should also follow the law.
“No one is exempt from complying with the Constitution and the laws of the land, particularly where you’re talking of a media outfit in the exercise of public trust criticizing government officials for violating the Constitution and the laws of the land. I would hope that they would be first and foremost compliant with all constitutional and legal requirements themselves,” he said.
“In law, we have a saying that ‘one should come to court with clean hands.’ Because the media industry is a public trust, one should exercise, I guess, privileges out of this public trust also with clean hands. Before you criticize others look into the mirror. Look at yourself first,” he added.
Roque said the SEC decision would not prevent the employees of Rappler from performing their duties as media practitioners.