Just face court’s decision ‘head-on,’ Palace tells Maria Ressa

MANILA, Philippines — Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa should just face “head-on” the lower court’s decision to convict her of cyber libel.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque issued this remark Tuesday as he also reminded Ressa and her supporters how she “transgressed the law when she maligned the reputation of a private individual.”

“As the Rappler CEO herself said, ‘If you don’t use your rights, you will lose them. The private individual who Ms. Ressa besmirched simply exercised his right against abusive persons who wield power and influence, including journalists like Maria Ressa,” Roque said in a statement.

“In law as what we say, one’s freedom ends where someone else’s rights begin. Thus, I advise Ms. Ressa to just face the complaint/decision head-on,” he added.

Roque also addressed Ressa’s recent statements, branding as “misleading at best” and a “lie at worst” the presidential mouthpiece’s claim that President Rodrigo Duterte supports press freedom in the country.

“The sentiments of Maria Ressa are understandable given her present state of mind as a result of the guilty verdict handed down by a Manila trial court,” Roque said.

The Palace official then noted Ressa can speak and say whatever she wants against the administration since it is her “right” and her “freedom of expression.”

“It goes to show that there is no stifling of free speech in the country and that democracy in the Philippines remains vibrant,” Roque further said.

On Monday, Ressa and Rappler’s former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. were found guilty of cyber libel over a story published in May 2012 linking businessman Wilfredo Keng to alleged human trafficking and drug smuggling.

The cybercrime law took effect in September 2012 or four months after the story was published. Keng filed the cyber libel complaint in 2017, a few years after the article was first posted and three years after it was re-posted to correct a typographical error.

Roque had denied allegations that the President had anything to do with Ressa’s conviction, saying Duterte supports press freedom and that he never filed a libel complaint against journalists.

Meanwhile, the court decision was met with criticism from various groups with the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) saying it “kills freedom of speech and the press.”

Opposition senators Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros likewise warned that Ressa’s conviction sends a chilling message to critics of the Duterte administration.

KGA