A court in the Philippines has voided a shutdown order that was issued against Rappler, an independent news outlet known for its scrutiny of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
Rappler, which was co-founded by the Nobel Peace laureate and journalist Maria Ressa, had been issued a shutdown order in 2018, during Duterte’s administration, over claims it had contravened restrictions on foreign ownership in media.
The court of appeals overturned the order in a judgment last month, saying Rappler was “wholly owned and managed by Filipinos.” It said it disagreed with a “draconian interpretation” by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), accusing it of a “grave abuse of discretion.”
Photo: AP
Rappler welcomed the judgment as “a vindication after a tortuous eight years of harassment.” It said: “It’s a fact that the Duterte government used the SEC order to unleash its power to further harass us, our employees, our stakeholders and our communities.”
Founded in 2012, Rappler was at the forefront of exposing corruption under Duterte. It documented thousands of extrajudicial killings that occurred under his “war on drugs.”
The outlet and its journalists have faced harassment, threats and a series of legal charges, although these have gradually been dismissed or withdrawn. Duterte left office in 2022 after reaching the end of his term limit and was succeeded by Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose previous alliance with the Duterte family has soured.
There are two remaining cases facing Rappler. The first is a cyberlibel conviction against Ressa and a former researcher, Reynaldo Santos Jr, which the outlet has petitioned for review at the Philippine Supreme Court.
Ressa and other Rappler directors are also accused of contravening the “anti-dummy law,” which prohibits Filipino nationals from acting as proxies for noncitizens to circumvent legal restrictions.
Duterte has denied that legal cases were politically motivated.
DEADLOCK: Putin has vowed to continue fighting unless Ukraine cedes more land, while talks have been paused with no immediate results expected, the Kremlin said Russia on Friday said that peace talks with Kyiv were on “pause” as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin still wanted to capture the whole of Ukraine. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he was running out of patience with Putin, and the NATO alliance said it would bolster its eastern front after Russian drones were shot down in Polish airspace this week. The latest blow to faltering diplomacy came as Russia’s army staged major military drills with its key ally Belarus. Despite Trump forcing the warring sides to hold direct talks and hosting Putin in Alaska, there
North Korea has executed people for watching or distributing foreign television shows, including popular South Korean dramas, as part of an intensifying crackdown on personal freedoms, a UN human rights report said on Friday. Surveillance has grown more pervasive since 2014 with the help of new technologies, while punishments have become harsher — including the introduction of the death penalty for offences such as sharing foreign TV dramas, the report said. The curbs make North Korea the most restrictive country in the world, said the 14-page UN report, which was based on interviews with more than 300 witnesses and victims who had
COMFORT WOMEN CLASH: Japan has strongly rejected South Korean court rulings ordering the government to provide reparations to Korean victims of sexual slavery The Japanese government yesterday defended its stance on wartime sexual slavery and described South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese compensation as violations of international law, after UN investigators criticized Tokyo for failing to ensure truth-finding and reparations for the victims. In its own response to UN human rights rapporteurs, South Korea called on Japan to “squarely face up to our painful history” and cited how Tokyo’s refusal to comply with court orders have denied the victims payment. The statements underscored how the two Asian US allies still hold key differences on the issue, even as they pause their on-and-off disputes over historical
CONSOLIDATION: The Indonesian president has used the moment to replace figures from former president Jokowi’s tenure with loyal allies In removing Indonesia’s finance minister and U-turning on protester demands, the leader of Southeast Asia’s biggest economy is scrambling to restore public trust while seizing a chance to install loyalists after deadly riots last month, experts say. Demonstrations that were sparked by low wages, unemployment and anger over lawmakers’ lavish perks grew after footage spread of a paramilitary police vehicle running over a delivery motorcycle driver. The ensuing riots, which rights groups say left at least 10 dead and hundreds detained, were the biggest of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s term, and the ex-general is now calling on the public to restore their
RSS