Court allows Philippine news site Rappler to continue operating: decision

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Rappler CEO gestures as she talks to reporters after being acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court over a tax evasion case in Pasig City, Philippines, on Sept. 12, 2023. | Photo Credit: AP

A court has ruled that the Philippine news site Rappler can continue operating, according to a copy of the decision released to the media on Friday (August 9, 2024), in the latest legal victory for the media outfit.

The Court of Appeals overturned a previous ruling by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that had effectively ordered the shutdown of the company co-founded by Nobel laureate Maria Ressa.

Ms. Ressa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, was a vocal critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte and the deadly drug war he launched in 2016.

That triggered what media advocates say was a grinding series of criminal charges, probes and online attacks against her and Rappler.

The Court of Appeals issued its ruling on July 23 that “reversed and set aside” the SEC decision on the grounds that its order had been a “serious abuse of discretion.”

It contravened “established procedures, jurisprudential and legal instructions, and clear intent of the Constitution,” the court said.

The SEC shutdown order was issued on June 29, 2022, the day before Mr. Duterte left office.