Appeals court orders license restored to Philippine news site Rappler

A PHILIPPINE court has reversed a ruling against independent news website Rappler and called for the company’s business license to be restored, the company said Friday (Aug 9), in a rare victory for the free press in South-east Asia.

The case was one of a dozen criminal and civil complaints filed by the government of former President Rodrigo Duterte against Rappler and its co-founder, Nobel laureate Maria Ressa, along with its board members and staff. Charges have included tax evasion, violation of foreign ownership rules and cyber libel.

Rappler had angered Duterte with his investigation into his brutal drug war. Ressa told the New York Times in 2022 that she viewed the cases against her and Rappler as “harassment and intimidation.”

The latest decision involved the biggest case facing Rappler, connected to the revocation of its operating license in 2018. That revocation had been ordered by the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which said that an investment by Omidyar Network, owned by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, violated the restrictions on foreign ownership of domestic media. The constitution prohibits foreign entities from owning domestic media organizations in the Philippines.

Rappler continued to operate pending the final outcome of the case, but the order added to the challenges it faced.

In 2020, the SEC upheld its earlier order. Rappler then argued that Omidyar Network’s investment was not the same as owning shares, did not give the company control of its operations and did not violate the law. Rappler vowed to take the case to the Court of Appeals.

The Philippine Court of Appeals, in a ruling dated Jul 23 but made public Friday, said that “the facts show that Rappler Holdings, and by extension Rappler, are currently wholly owned and managed by Filipinos.”

According to the full text of the judgment, the court added that the SEC had “plowed through law and jurisprudence to reach its mark – the death of Rappler.”

“These actions have no place in a democratic state,” he said.

The SEC took action against Rappler after Duterte singled out the news organization in his 2017 State of the Nation speech. He said it was “fully owned” by Americans, a claim that Rappler has denied.

Ressa was visibly emotional when she spoke to reporters Friday.

“What is clear through all of this is that there are good people in our judiciary, there are good people in government, and we have banked on that, like, literally, we had to have faith,” she said.

She said that because of the SEC ruling, banks refused to do business with Rappler, clients were shied away from advertising with the company, and it had to shut down its bureau in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.

Ressa’s legal troubles have eased considerably under the current president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

But press freedom continues to be mixed. Unlike Duterte, Marcos does not blatantly attack the mainstream media. But he also gives few interviews, and the Philippines continues to be one of the most dangerous countries for journalists.

Ressa and Rappler’s board members still await the resolution of two other cases, including her appeal of a June 2020 conviction on a cyber libel charge that could send her to prison for nearly seven years.

On the current state of press freedom in the Philippines, Ressa said: “It’s like we were in hell. Now we’re in purgatory. “It is far from perfect.” NYT