Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. AFP and INQUIRER FILE PHOTOS
MANILA, Philippines — Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is “playing the victim card” when she talked about the shutdown of embattled media giant ABS-CBN after filing her not guilty plea to a tax evasion charge, Malacañang said Wednesday.
Ressa appeared before the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 157 for her arraignment over her alleged failure to provide correct information to Rappler’s value-added tax (VAT) return in 2015. The case is one of five tax-related charges Ressa faces.
After pleading not guilty, Ressa brought up the ABS-CBN issue, saying that what happened to the television network can happen to other media entities President Rodrigo Duterte wanted out.
“What happened to ABS-CBN can happen to all of us. So, journalists, we have to hold power to account even if power is consolidated. That’s really what’s happening now. We need to continue to demand accountability,” Ressa said in a press conference aired by Rappler.
But Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque rejected Ressa’s claims and reiterated that Malacañang is “hands-off” in the ABS-CBN franchise issue.
“We reiterate that the granting of the broadcasting franchise is the sole and exclusive prerogative of Congress; and we have maintained a neutral stance on the issue as part of our courtesy and respect to a separate co-equal branch of the government,” Roque said in a statement.
The Palace official then pointed out that Rappler and ABS-CBN—both publicly criticized by Duterte—as well as other news entities “continue to report on the events happening in the country.”
“A good case in point is the ABS-CBN News coverage of the ‘not guilty’ plea of Maria Ressa, which can be read online,” Roque said.
“There is certainly no truth to Ms. Ressa’s allegation. The press can keep on reporting as long as there is no violation and has the right to continue its operations.”
Ressa and her news site have been on the receiving end of a series of cases after publishing stories critical of the Duterte administration.
The veteran journalist and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. were recently convicted for cyber libel. They remain free on post-conviction bail.
She had claimed that the cases against her and her news website were politically motivated.
Earlier, Duterte’s allies in the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to deny ABS-CBN’s bid for a fresh 25-year franchise, an outcome the President had promised would happen because of the network’s failure to air his 2016 presidential election campaign advertisement and its supposed biased reporting.