Lawyer says complainant vs. Ressa not connected with Duterte admin

The lawyer of the businessman who filed a cyber libel complaint against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, resulting in her arrest, on Thursday said they are not connected with the Duterte administration.

"Wala pong ugnayan. We are not involved with the administration or the government. It (complaint) is completely private," said lawyer Joseph Banguis, counsel for complainant Wilfredo Keng, in an interview on Dobol B sa News TV.

Ressa is a known critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and her supporters, among them foreign and local journalists and human rights groups, have accused the administration of trying to intimidate the media with her arrest.

On Wednesday, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested Ressa for a cyber-libel complaint filed by Keng over an article that Rappler published in 2012.

The article alleged that the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was ousted from his post, used cars registered under "controversial personalities involved in criminal activities," among them Keng who is allegedly involved in human trafficking, drug smuggling and murder.

"When they published the article they didn’t take our side," Banguis said. "Eh di ba, as a responsible journalist, that one requirement you have to do before you publish any article, you have to at least get the side of other party."

According to Banguis, Keng reached out to Rappler to have the article taken down because of its libelous contents, but the news site did not act on it.

"Wala silang sinabing commitment," the lawyer said. "Actually, when we were asking them they are not giving us any assurance."

Banguis clarified that they discovered the article in 2015 and filed the complaint against Rappler in 2017, explaining why Ressa just got arrested only on Wednesday considering that the article was published seven years ago. —Joviland Rita/KBK, GMA News