Roque: Rappler not yet off the hook despite investor’s PDR donation

Despite the donation of investment firm Omidyar Network of its Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to Rappler, Malacañang said the news site was not yet off the hook.

“Omidyar Network’s reported donation of its Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to its Filipino managers does not remove the fact that Rappler breached the Constitution,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said.

This latest act, Roque said, was “nothing but a circumvention of the law, which restricts ownership of media entities in the country to 100 percent Filipino-owned.”

Rappler has decried the move of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to revoke its license to operate as an attack to press freedom.

“Rappler’s defense of infringement of press freedom is merely a ploy to distract from the real issue, as resolved by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the former is a foreign entity,” Roque said.

“Let us therefore wait for the SEC, having jurisdiction, to address this new development,” he added.

In a 29-page decision dated Jan. 11, 2018, 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.” /atm