Panelo on Maria Ressa arrest: She is enjoying it

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang denied Thursday that the government was behind the arrest of Rappler Chief Executive Officer Maria Ressa, saying that the journalist has been “enjoying” the limelight.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested Ressa on Wednesday at the Rappler office in Pasig City over a cyberlibel case.

READ: LOOK: The SUV that launched the libel suit against Rappler

Ressa spent the night at the NBI headquarters in Manila after a Pasay City night court refused to accept bail for her case.

He was able to post a P100,000 bail at Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46 on Thursday morning.

READ: Ressa posts bail for cyberlibel charge

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said Ressa seemed to enjoy the limelight.

“Katunayan, sa tingin ko nga kay Maria, mukhang (I think) she’s enjoying it, she’s been smiling all the while,” Panelo said in a radio dzMM interview.

Panelo clarified that Ressa was not detained but was just held in a room at the NBI.

“Another thing, hindi naman siya nakakulong eh, nasa NBI kuwarto lang (she was not jailed, she just stayed in a room). In other words, she’s making a mountain out of a mole cave,” he said.

He denied that  Malacañang had a hand on Ressa’s arrest.

“[I]to private citizen ang nagdemanda, ano naman ang kaugnayan ng Palasyo diyan (A private citizen filed the case, what is the connection of the Palace then)?” he asked.

Ressa’s arrest, he reiterated, was not a press freedom issue.

“Iyong sinasabi naman nilang, ito ay paglabag sa freedom of expression, sinasabi ko na nga kanina, malayung-malayo unrelated, absolutely unrelated iyan (On the issue that this is against freedom of expression, I’d say far from it. It is absolutely unrelated),” he stressed.

READ: Palace to Ressa: It’s not a press freedom issue; face the case 

Ressa was arrested over an article published in Rappler in May 2012, which its subject, businessman Wilfredo Keng, said was “clearly defamatory.”

The Department of Justice has filed the cyber libel case against Ressa and Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. and found probable cause for violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which was enacted in September 2012, four months after the article was published.

Asked for his comment, Panelo said, “That’s the legal issue that the Court should properly resolve.”

“So, they should be raising those issues before the court and not outside of the court,” he said. /ee

READ: Palace on Maria Ressa arrest: ‘No one is above the law’