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Media organizations stand with Maria Ressa, ex-Rappler researcher amid cyber libel conviction
By JOVILAND RITA, GMA News The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) on Monday called the conviction of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. for cyber libel charges a “dark day.”
In a statement posted on its Facebook page, NUJP said the conviction of Maria Ressa and Santos killed freedom of speech and of the press but journalists will not be cowed.
“This is a dark day not only for independent Philippine media but for all Filipinos. The verdict basically kills freedom of speech and of the press,” NUJP said.
“But we will not be cowed. We will continue to stand our ground against all attempts to suppress our freedoms,” it added.
On the other hand, the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) expressed alarm over the development.
“It’s a menacing blow to press freedom in the Philippines and adds a new weapon in a growing legal arsenal against constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in an Asian outpost of democracy,” FOCAP said.
“FOCAP journalists will press on with their courageous, fair, accurate and independent journalism. We have fought to stay independent since the dark Martial Law days. We will fight on every time, threat after threat,” it added.
The alternative media community also stand in solidarity with Maria Ressa and Rappler as it encouraged other media outfits to do the same.
“We encourage our fellow media practitioners in both the alternative and dominant media to stand with Rappler as part of our duty of defending press freedom and opposing the Duterte regime’s suppression of our rights and civil liberties,” Luis Teodoro, AlterMidya national chairperson said in a press statement.
He said the Philippine media, both in the alternative and dominant, has faced a systematic assault under the Duterte administration.
“This guilty verdict on Rappler's case is another blow to press freedom and free expression in the country. But this will certainly not deter the media community in resisting repression,” he said.
Teodoro said Malacañang had previously denied it had a hand in the cyberlibel case, even as Ressa and Rappler face several other accusations of tax fraud, and violations of the Securities Regulation Code, the Anti-Dummy Law, etc.
Malacanang has also denied it had anything to do with the shutdown of broadcast network ABS-CBN, even if all indication points otherwise, he said.
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“Taken as a whole, this barrage of legal cases and accusations against Rappler, ABS-CBN, and other independent journalists is clearly a part of the administration's continuing attack against the media -- with a determined aim of instilling fear among media practitioners committed to reporting the truth and holding the administration into account,” said Teodoro.
The College Editors Guild of the Philippines also condemned the guilty verdict saying it "echoes a clear message that freedom of the press has been under siege."
"With the intensifying attacks against the Philippine press, the guilty verdict on Ressa and Santos adds to the fascist character of the Duterte regime to silence their staunch critics and deliberately kill press freedom," said CEGP national president Daryl Angelo Baybado.
"Ressa and Santos' guilty verdict is just one of the many numbers of cases of harassment, censorship, and threats among journalists," he added.
He further said as criminal libel remains one of the most frequently used ways to silence the free press, journalists, together with the Filipino people should collectively organize and mobilize in huge numbers to fight back against the "pervading tyrannical and fascist dictatorship of Duterte."
"The Philippines has been under de facto martial law and the establishment has been successful in shrinking the space for dissent and freedom of the press. But the alliance of campus press shall always fight back. We are not afraid. Together, we will hold the line," Baybado said.
On Monday, the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 found Ressa and Santos, Jr. guilty of cyber libel and sentenced them to six months and one day to up to six years in jail.
The two remain free after being granted post-conviction bail.
The court ordered Ressa and Santos "jointly and severally" to pay businessman Wilfredo Keng, the private complainant, P200,000 in moral damages and P200,000 in exemplary damages
However, Rappler, as company, was declared to have no liability by the court.
Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa handed down the ruling after less than a year of trial. The promulgation of judgment was initially scheduled for April.
"There is no curtailment of the right to freedom of speech and of the press," the judge said in the ruling.
"Each person, journalist or not has that constitutionally guaranteed right to freely express, write and make known his opinion. But with the highest ideals in mind what society expects is a responsible free press. It is in acting responsibly that freedom is given its true meaning," she added.—AOL/RSJ, GMA News