COVER STORY
Maria Ressa has been an icon of courage in the face of oppression for many Filipinos, how she braves adversities and continues the conversation is one interesting story to tell
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything.”
-Rainer Maria Rilke
The mere thought of the two-hour time frame was enough to send jitters down my spine, but I accepted the challenge regardless and rounded a trusted team to share in the struggle. The task of securing a few moments with Maria Ressa was, in itself, gargantuan already. Rappler’s cofounder and Chief Executive Officer has quite the hectic schedule. Having made headlines here and abroad, talks and interviews, on top of work, had been keeping her busy—not to mention the grueling legal battles she is currently facing. And with the constant flux of changes in her demanding itinerary, we were lucky enough to have been squeezed in to have her photos taken and for me to conduct the interview.
The idea of conversing with one of the country’s foremost stalwarts in the fight for truth and defending the free press was a week’s worth of anxiety. And I took it upon myself to write lengthy, seemingly profound questions—with a fraction of the effort devoted to impressing a person I admire superlatively. I found the one-hour conversation unexpectedly carefree and free-flowing, even if grappling with my intense nerves. Maria could talk for hours—just as impassioned by purpose and driven by mission as many perceive her to be. It was infectious. I threw my notes after the first question for the flow of my inquisition. Amidst caffeinated laughter and the struggle to hold back tears, plunging into her verbal rhythm and stream of thought, was incredibly enlightening and immensely uplifting.
THE SCHOOL OF TRUE GRIT
Maria laughs when I ask her about the laudable spirit of fearlessness ingrained in her and Rappler’s identities. “I don't think we're doing anything other than our jobs,” she says, looking back. “It's more challenging. It's certainly more dangerous in the sense that—my gosh, in order to do what I did—to be a journalist, you can go to jail now.” Next year, Maria will be celebrating the 35th anniversary of her remarkable career in journalism. Her stellar resume includes nearly two decades as CNN’s lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia, a couple of books documenting the rise of terrorism in the region, the establishment of online news site Rappler, and her inclusion in Time magazine’s Person of the Year 2018, among many other worthy achievements. And as the Philippines hasn’t exactly been known as a safe haven for journalists, Rappler paid the price with the ire of many of the country’s prominent political figures.
“I've led newsgroups before. And what happened when we came under attack was the normal everyday friction of a newsgroup faded away. And the mission became much more important because we began to realize that there's active manipulation of Filipinos,” Maria explains. Together with three other women: Chay Hofileña (Investigative Head), Glenda Gloria (Managing Editor), and Beth Frondoso (Production and Multimedia), she headed an uphill climb against oppressive government forces and the overwhelming effects of social media giant machinations. “The right path was so clear because we knew who we were and why we do what we do. We set up Rappler from scratch. And I think the difference is that because journalists own and created this, why would we keep doing it if we can’t do what journalists are supposed to do?”
Key figures in the circle include Pia Ranada and Patricia Evangelista, who have both had their share of experiences that many would find traumatizing. Pia not only has been banned from the palace grounds, but she has also witnessed the abuse of power firsthand. Patricia, on the other hand, has documented the casualty buildup of the ongoing drug war right from the dark alleys where unwarranted deaths came to be. Rappler is predominantly female, Maria shares. And with the median age being 23 years old, majority of the population are young, most of them new to the line of fire.
BRANDING IRON WILL
Maria acknowledges the crippling effects of a haunting experience, “When they began [the attacks on Rappler], we offered counseling to our folks because they're so young. For me, at that point, when I was getting attacked, I was like, ‘Okay. This is new, but I've been through this before.’ I’ve almost been thrown out of countries. But when you're a first-time reporter, and this is happening to you, you don't know what to do with it.” After offering counseling for their social media team, Rappler regrouped, and initiated an internal dialogue among its members to better understand what was happening. And as Rappler’s brand of journalism is deeply rooted in the understanding that facts are fundamental in every story and the appropriate supporting data is key to credibility, the team began to study the situation under the lens of a journalist versus that of a victim.
“The data is what anchored me because I realized what it was. That this is meant to pound us to silence. It's a different form of censorship. You take out a narrative, you intimidate people— journalists, human rights activists, and you get them out of the landscape,” Maria shares. The realization only fueled her to fight harder and to keep holding power to account. And as relentless as the government was in its lurid attempts to silence them, Maria was quick to brush these aside and simply ask herself what these people were afraid of.
A few months ago, I watched A Thousand Cuts, which documents the labyrinthian flow of information across the country—how the last election’s winners sang their way to victory and how the noble aspirations of a less popular candidate fell on deaf ears. Of course, Maria’s story is at the core of the film, the proof of the story’s gravitas. We watched as a warrant of arrest greeted her on her return to the country. We listened as several members of the team expressed their fears and continued support for the cause. In the end, each cut was felt profusely—you don’t leave your seat without bleeding from the cruel injustice of it all.
“Whenever we started to get tired—the older folks, our younger folks just are inspiring. I remember when I was in my 20s I didn't sleep four days of the week when I was doing Probe. Well that's where they are. And the excitement and watching them take it apart. Watching Pia stand up to President Duterte. It's almost like we, then, gained courage from each other. Because the older folks knew what we needed to do. The younger folks knew the mission,” Maria explains. The symbiotic relationship proved to be an effective panacea from the succession of blows that have been coming.
“I don't think we're doing anything other than our jobs. ”
“The right path was so clear because we knew who we were and why we do what we do. We set up Rappler from scratch. And I think the difference is that because journalists own and created this, why would we keep doing it if we can’t do what journalists are supposed to do?”
DAUNTLESS IN DARKNESS
“That the way we think is being manipulated. That technology that originated in Silicon Valley was being used against us. It is so insidious that you don't really know you're being manipulated. So what happened was, we started to see the splintering of society. And we began writing about it. In 2017, when President Duterte attacked us at the State of the Nation Address, I called a General Assembly. This is a different time period, especially once the case has started happening. And everyone has a different risk level. So I said, ‘I understand I don't know how bad it's going to get, but this is the position we're taking,’ ” Maria recalls.
“We told our folks. You have to tell your families because their families get scared for them. I was far more concerned about my team than I was about myself.” The returns of a relationship built on this selfless perspective was priceless as Maria found out, “We became closer. We learned to be really honest. And we learned that the way to keep going forward is to think of, wherever we are today—what's the worst-case scenario? Prepare for that. And then kind of drill the steps.” One of the drills involved people taking out their cellphones for self-defense. And this was exactly what Pia prepared for when she was pushed out of Malacañang’s premises, chronicling the horrendous experience and uploading it on the vast landscape of the internet.
As the face of Rappler, Maria was thrust to an inevitable position of bearing all the troubles of the social news network. It is a role she is wellaware of—cognizant of their purpose, “I knew my job was to kind of hold up the sky so that the team can keep doing their jobs. And our team is incredible. I guess what we know in Rappler is we have to keep making sense of the world. We have to hold power to account. I think the mission of journalism has never been as important. And I think all of us, including Lifestyle Asia, even if you don't do news—storytelling, narratives. This is the time when we have to tell the narratives that matter because it's a battle of narratives.” As the plot continues to thicken, underneath this optimistic caution, Rappler continues to unmask the pundits behind this salacious saga.
UNDERSTANDING THE MECHANISMS OF FEAR
As the global pandemic ravages countries, people all over the world were given a magnifying lens to the civic atrocities and the blatant injustices happening in their countries. From autocrats in power to Silicon Valley moguls, the opportunity to hold both tyrants and despotic institutions accountable became accessible across nations. It is truly a unique moment in history, as Maria says. But it’s not only influential leaders who triggered a series of changes. And clearly, they weren’t the first. Digital machinations paved the way for these polarizing figures to ascend their thrones.
“The information ecosystem changed,” Maria explains. “Tech became the gatekeeper. Social media became a behavioral modification system. Their monetization sold us our data and innermost thoughts. Machine learning takes it, gives it to artificial intelligence, and then sells it to the highest bidder—whatever the message is. Your most vulnerable moment to a message is micro-targeted and sold to a company or a country.” While the slow death of democracy is not exactly an experience exclusive to the Philippines, the rise of digital authoritarians was a global phenomenon that came about like a thief in the night. Citizens were oblivious to mass manipulation. Distrust became a powerful tool that worked in these totalitarian leaders’ favor. “I think that is Russian disinformation tactics. The end goal of Russian disinformation is not to make you believe anything but to make you doubt everything. When you don't trust anyone, the person with the most power—gain more power. And that's precisely what we've seen playing out,” she shares.
“I guess what
we know in Rappler is we have to keep making sense of the world. We have to hold power to account. I think the mission of journalism has never been as important.”
“I keep looking for stronger political leadership—that is respectful of human rights, that is aware of the limits of power, that self-regulates its own power.”
The cumulative experiences of oppression, however, never goes unnoticed. And whether one is a diehard supporter or an apathetic citizen, the ability to opine continues to push and pull our ideas into action. “I think that we realized that the next few months are critical. Because the next few months will determine whether we will have elections. The next few months will determine whether we will remain a democracy. Because if you think about it, our institutions have actually caved in a bit.” Maria cites the clamor for constitutional change as an example, “Killing democracy today is about consolidating power. If we have constitutional change—and you are seeing different attempts at this now—then we won't have elections. And it isn't just in the Philippines, it's global.”
THE COURAGE TO ASK QUESTIONS
“For Filipinos, I think there are a lot of people who believe in the same values, but they're scared. And it's okay to be scared. But we gain protection and power together. That is what civic engagement is. That is what democracy is. So what do we do? You realize that what you do matters. If you are Filipino and you care about the constitution, you care about the future. You're going to reclaim your rights,” Maria says. More than a year ago, she was arrested a few days before Valentine’s Day and was kept by the police overnight. “I realized that they unshackled me because they violated my rights. And because they violated my rights, I won't stop talking. I'm a journalist, and I feel like that’s my task. My job is to make sure we hold power to account and that you have the facts to make a decision.”
“It became very personal when I got arrested,” she shares. “The cases being filed against me, I knew that they were trying to intimidate us. It's very mafia-like. It's weaponizing the law. And that's another thing of the upside-down world. The very things that are supposed to protect the citizens are now being used against us.” And as many wonder whether the war on drugs, the warrantless arrests, and the disturbing disappearances are connected to political motive, the public demand for excellence steadily stream into consciousness. For Maria, this is pretty much a lifetime advocacy. “I keep looking for stronger political leadership—that is respectful of human rights, that is aware of the limits of power, that self-regulates its own power. It can't get any worse. We need a competent government. We want government to succeed. But when they become a mafia, when they appoint people who don't know what they're doing, and they govern based on loyalty and utang na loob (debt of gratitude), instead of impact, instead of results, then we have a problem. Because in a pandemic, in the worst public health crisis the world has known for the last century, you need the best of Filipino minds. And it is criminal that the government has not brought in united all the different sectors of society. The experts, where are they? Why must we play with our lives?”
Corruption, no matter how seemingly endemic it is here in the Philippines, has been more pronounced since the novel coronavirus hit the country. And with the increasing amount of debt coupled with the alarming lack of transparency, all eyes are on the administration, and with reason. Maria states her piece, “In the end, it’s power and money. So the problem now though, is with a pandemic, with the economy bottoming out, we have no idea how bad it's going to get. And this government isn't really good with numbers—or facts. So I would like to see far more transparency. But are we ready? I think so. I mean, take a look. We've all been watching, parang
nagtitimpi tayo (it seems like we are holding back). And we keep hoping for the best. But you know, it's almost enlightened self-interest that we demand.”
“When we see such blatant preferential treatment, injustice, I think these are things that could be curbed. And frankly, it's partly because the government doesn't really know what to do. They actually say it. They say this has never happened before. Well, yes. It's never happened before. Just the same way that SARS never happened before, but we had a health Secretary Manuel Dayrit—who is still here, who you could tap.” It is in this line of reasoning, that we as citizens, should be asking the right questions s Maria suggests, “Why do we have ex-military generals running the COVID response? Where is the public health sector? Why does it take 70 different groups and hospitals to demand that the government act in a way to protect not just the frontliners, but the people? These things don't require a lot. All it requires is a little bit of humility from people who have power to say, ‘I don't know how to actually solve it. Help us.’ And then put in place the mechanism.”
EMBRACING YOUR FEAR
“Whatever it is that you're most afraid of, you have to embrace it. Touch it. And own it. Because if you take what you're most afraid of, and rob it of its sting and its power over you, then you're unbeatable ”
Maria tells me the story of how she once conquered her fears as a young immigrant. “My family moved to the US when I was 10 years old. And I walked into this class and I was the shortest kid. I was the only brown kid. Tagalog was actually the language we use, so I couldn't speak English all that well. And I realized, I was intimidated. These people were so tall, and they were aggressive, and they spoke their minds.” Instead of backing out from the challenge, Maria stepped up and honed her speech. “I was afraid of English, so I learned English really well. I was afraid of public speaking, so I learned to speak. And in a strange way, CNN helped me in that.”
“I've known that from when I was young that we are our own worst enemies. Every battle begins in your mind. So embrace your fear,” Maria advises. Looking back, valuable lessons were learned along the way, and the two decades of training she received from working with CNN helped her gain the confidence in front of the camera and the wit to pack a tremendous amount of information in two minutes of footage. “CNN live shots were great training. I guess because I value clarity of thought. I know that when something bad happens when there's some big disturbance, our first initial reactions as people is to let our emotions go. I was in charge of a team, it's a team that we did conflict, and conflict coverage throughout Southeast Asia. And if I lost my mind, I couldn't make the right decision for my team and that could be life or death. We were caught in different instances in Kashmir in Pakistan, in East Timor in Indonesia, right. So, clarity of thought, I guess I struggle from that all the time.”
Maria talks about a much-needed duality when tapping into conscience. Emotions are essential elements of expression and communication, but restraint is just as important especially when you’re leading a team and handling crisis management—something she is no stranger to. “I need clarity of thought. But I also don't push my emotion down so far that I can't access it. Because when you're leading people, you know that emotions are critically important. But if you make emotions lead, then you'll make the wrong call. And you can place both yourself and your team in danger. It's understanding that our emotions drive us, but also realizing that if we let our emotions lead, we won't be able to choose the best path ahead. I've learned this now. I realized this.”
We then digress to less serious, but equally important topics—the future of journalism and the hope for change. To this Maria remains positive, “Religion taught us. I'm not an awfully religious person, but I hope to see a more compassionate world. And that's the exciting part. You, we, can build this now. So, there's a lot of stuff to get excited about.” It took me a few hours after the conversation for the message to percolate. With all kinds of noise happening, it seems hardly possible to imagine a bright future. The perpetual incidents of corruption in Philippine politics still looms heavy with recent events—the Department of Health and its foibles, the lack of COVID fund transparency, and the even PhilHealth’s string of shocking anomalies. Fear seems like an easy path, with the assuaging comfort from the arms of paranoia.
“You stop yourself,” Maria says, firmly. “Whatever it is that you're most afraid of, you have to embrace it. Touch it. And own it. Because if you take what you're most afraid of, and rob it of its sting and its power over you, then you're unbeatable.” Faith feels like an uncanny ally when the supposed rewarding effects almost always feel like a fraction of a probability. But for someone like Maria, who continues to face metaphorical monsters daily, faith, hope, and the courage to have another go at it, have become pillars of strength. Her shining example inspires everyone, more than ever, to never forget to have the courage to live everything. And so, like many encouraged others, I, too, live.