Rappler: Pattern of harassment has not stopped

Online news site Rappler on Friday said the "pattern of harassment" it claims it has experienced since last year has not stopped, but grown wider as more of its officers face a new criminal case.

Filed by government prosecutors, the latest case for alleged violation of the Anti-Dummy Law "proves abuse of state power and the bending of the law to intimidate and harass critics," Rappler said in a statement.

Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa was arrested Friday morning on the strength of a court-issued warrant and has gone to a Pasig judge to post bail for her provisional liberty.

Along with other members of Rappler's 2016 board of directors, who have already posted bail, Ressa was most recently charged in connection with the company's issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts to foreign investment firm Omidyar.

Rappler has already been brought to court for separate cases on cyber libel and tax evasion.

"This pattern of harassment against Rappler that started in January 2018, when the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an order revoking its license, has not stopped," Rappler said in a statement.

Though the Court of Appeals denied Rappler's petition for review against the SEC decision, the court remanded the case to the SEC for review, since Omidyar has already donated its questioned shares to Rappler's managers.

"Now it casts a wider net to go beyond Maria Ressa and target other members of the Rappler Board," it said.

"But journalists doing their jobs will not be intimidated. We will continue to hold the line," Rappler maintained. — RSJ, GMA News