“No amount of legal cases, black propaganda, and lies can silence Filipino journalists who continue to hold the line.”
This was a statement quoted from Maria Ressa, Chief Executive Officer of Rappler, who was arrested late afternoon on February 13 by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) due to her alleged connection to a cyber libel case filed by the justice department.
In light of the said issue, mobilizations held in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and outside the NBI compound were supported by journalists and protest groups in disapproval of the overnight detainment of the journalist, who was only able to successfully post the bail of P100,000 the day after.
Silencing the critics
In an article back in May 2012, Rappler linked Wilfredo Keng, a businessman, to several illegal activities such as drugs and human trafficking. The article, which Keng filed a complaint against, was enough basis for the Department of Justice to recommend a filing in court to charge Ressa of violating Sec. 4(C)(4) of Republic Act (RA) 10175. The law, which was actually enacted four months after the article and all of its information were published publicly, was dubbed by Alyansang Tapat sa Lasalista (Tapat) Vice President for External Affairs Lance Dela Cruz as a “maneuver to silence the critics.”
Ressa was arrested by the NBI officers, albeit the efforts made by her to post bail, which was refused by the Pasay City night court judge, even though they have the ability to do so based on the Rules of Court as stated under Rule 114, Section 17.
“This is a dangerous precedent”
With the goal of promoting press freedom during the Wednesday night festivity, a portion of the proceedings for UP Fair Elements 2019 was dedicated to raising awareness of the said topic. During a segment originally allotted for Ressa, Patricia Evangelista, a Rappler investigative reporter, read the transcript of their published article addressing the “preposterous and baseless” nature of the filed case.
Evangelista made sure to deliver the public statement on Ressa’s behalf, which emphasized, “This is a dangerous precedent that puts anyone–not just the media–who publishes anything online perennially in danger of being charged with libel.”
Furthermore, the statement, which was published before the said mobilization, also focused on how her fellow journalists “will continue to tell the truth and report what we see and hear.”
UP Student Regent Ivy Taroma also took part in echoing the said advocacies. She pointed out that “Kung ganito ang hinaharap ngayon ng Rappler, ano pa kaya ang haharapin ng ating student publications?”
(If this is the situation Rappler deals with now, how much worse will it be for our student publications?)
Taroma continued, “Katotohanan na tayong lahat, sa ilalim ng pagpapatahimik, ay nasa ilalim na ng de facto martial law.”
(It’s true that all of us, while we are being silenced silenced, are under a de facto martial law.)
Adding to her statements, Jose Callueng, National President of College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), also expressed his disapproval of the government’s actions, stating that “We strongly condemn this and denounce this yet another maneuver of the Duterte regime.”
He implied that the “Duterte regime seem to have this obsession [with] suppressing the media,” as he delineated that the administration “feeds nothing but false information to the Filipino masses and bombarding them with different human rights violations.”
In spite of this, Callueng voiced out, “We need the media now more than ever to expose the realities that [are] happening in our country.” He continued, explaining that a single attack on the media may very well be “an attack to every Filipino citizen” who seeks for truth and democracy in the Philippines.
“When you censor one journalist, it intimidates the others, and hence, it gives them this feeling to censor themselves in a way. So this is an attack not just to press freedom, but ultimately, to the democracy,” concluded Callueng.
Outside closed doors
In an attempt to strengthen the impromptu mobilization, contingents and opposition groups flocked outside the NBI compound. Among those present were De La Salle Philippines (DLSP) representative Reigner Sanchez (BSE-ENG, ‘18), along with Millennials PH, the Liberal Youth, CEGP, and DLSU-Manila political parties Santugon sa Tawag ng Panahon (Santugon) and Tapat.
“We are appalled with what happened,” Dela Cruz stated. Adding that Ressa’s arrest was “out of the blue,” Dela Cruz implied how the Duterte regime’s targeting of critics and media groups is a call to action for student leaders to not let these injustices go idly by.
Gio Acosta, Secretary General of Santugon, on the other hand, stated that their next plan of action would be to raise awareness, making sure that the student body is fully aware of the situation at large. “We have to do what is necessary. If kailangan natin mag rally, then we have to rally. We have to voice out our concerns to the government,” he pressed.
Students and journalists from other areas of Metro Manila also later joined in on the impromptu mobilization, such as Jason del Rosario, a member of Akbayan Youth. Del Rosario noted that, “With the current move of the administration, which is to jail Maria Ressa—somebody who is so prominent that has been hailed as a Person of the Year by Time—if somebody as prominent as her is to be jailed by this administration, who’s next?”
Pipay Bisaya, a spokesperson for Millenials PH, added, “Feeling ko siguro ito na yung time or wake-up call or mas double na wake-up call para sa mga mamamayang Pilipino na panahon na talaga para maki-isa at tuligsain itong garapalan at harap-harapan na pambabastos at pambabalahura sa ating demokrasya.”
(I feel like it’s the time for a wake-up call or a double wake-up call for Filipinos that we should really come together and end the vulgarization of our democracy.)
Unity in faith
Under the leadership of Br. Armin Luistro FSC, DLSP also issued a statement early in the evening of February 13 expressing support for Rappler. The statement read, ”Let’s give our all out support as Lasallians to Rappler. Let’s defend press freedom. Let’s make our voices heard. Let’s vote with our feet and stand with Maria Ressa!”
One La Salle for Human Rights and Democracy also invited the Lasallian community, through a post on their Facebook page, to join a mobilization at the South Gate of the University later today, 4:30 pm, to protest and “back the rallying cry to defend press freedom.”
