Duterte justifies Palace ban on Rappler: ‘They might be CIA sponsored’

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (KING RODRIGUEZ / PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday said he was just “invoking executive action” when he ordered the ban on all Rappler reporters from entering Malacañang and covering his events.

Duterte said Rappler was not a legitimate agency according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“Because it is not a legitimate agency according to SEC, so I am now invoking executive action based on the SEC ruling, na kung sabihin na sila, legitimate sila, pasok kayo uli. Walang problema sa akin ‘yan. But unless hindi ka legitimate, hindi naman Pilipino pala ang may-ari. Eh bawal ‘yan eh,” Duterte told reporters in Sara, Iloilo.

(If they say they are now legitimate, they can come back again. No problem with me. But unless they are not legitimate, since it is not Pilipino-owned, that is illegal.)

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered the revocation of Rappler’s license to operate.

In a 29-page decision dated January 11, the SEC ruled that Rappler, Inc. and its controlling shareholder Rappler Holdings Corp. were “liable for violating the constitutional and statutory Foreign Equity Restrictions in Mass Media enforceable through rules and laws within the mandate of the Commission.”

Duterte said Rappler might be “CIA-sponsored.”

“Baka CIA sponsored e bawal yan,” he said.

He said Rappler “takes every chance to undermine you.”

“Yung Rappler, if you would… basahin mo. It takes every chance… every… if there’s a chance to undermine you,” he said.

“That is the history of America, CIA, and ‘yung political dissenters, inaalagaan nila at eventually mamili ‘yan sila ng kandidato na mautusan nila kagaya nito ngayon (and the political dissenters, they are taking care of them and eventually pick a candidate they can collude with just like what happens at present),” he said.

Rappler, however, denied that the online news site is partisan.

“We are neither pro- nor anti-Duterte; we are pro-truth and pro-people. Rappler reports on President Rodrigo Duterte the way our veteran journalists have reported on leaders for the past 30 years. We hold our government accountable to the people,” Rappler said in an earlier report.

“Ironically, we were criticized for being “pro-Duterte” during the presidential campaign. We accept these as signs of our highly polarized times,” Rappler explained.

The President also mentioned how Rappler distorts the news.

“‘Di basahin ninyo ang Rappler mamaya. Susmaryosep. I do not have to suggest anything. Pareho man kayo lahat sa media. O, there will be a report, you make the reports now and they will make a distortion or a retort that is distortion,” he said. “Basahin mo. Magkasama man tayo lahat at tingnan mo ‘yung reporting nila.”

(Why don’t you read Rappler later. You are all the same in the media. You read it. We are now together here, check their kind of reporting.) /jpv