UN rapporteurs back Rappler; urge gov’t to protect independent media

The UN experts added that there is no basis to block Rappler from operating instead independent outlets. (Photo: United Nations Photo/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

United Nations Human Rights (UNHR) called on the Philippine government to protect and promote independent media amid sprouting issue on press freedom in connection with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s decision to revoke the license of online news site Rappler for violating the constitutional and statutory foreign equity restrictions in mass media.

“We urge the Government to return to its path of protection and promotion of independent media, especially those covering issues in the public interest,” said the three Special Rapporteurs in a joint statement.

The three Special Rapporteurs are Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; David Kaye, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; and Michel Forst, special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

The council expressed serious alarm on government’s alleged effort to shut down independent media outlets in the Philippines, an accusation that President Rodrigo Duterte earlier belied.

The Palace also refuted the accusations that the Duterte administration has participated with the license revocation of Rappler saying that the Constitution itself stated that any ownership of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines.

“We are gravely concerned that the government is moving to revoke Rappler’s license,” said the three Special Rapporteurs in a joint statement.

The UN experts added that there is no basis to block Rappler from operating, instead independent outlets “need particular protection because of the essential role they play in ensuring robust public debate.”

“Rappler’s work rests on its own freedom to impart information, and more importantly its vast readership to have access to its public interest reporting,” the UN experts said.

The UN experts noted that the SEC’s decision is at odds with its past approach to foreign support of local or national media, “given that philanthropic contributions do not amount to foreign ownership.”

On January 11, the commission en banc said that Rappler Inc. and its parent Rappler Holdings Corp. violated the Foreign Equity Restriction in Article XVI, Section 11(1) of the Constitution which states, “The ownership and management of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines, or to corporations, cooperatives or associations, wholly-owned and managed by such citizens.”

“We are especially concerned that this move against Rappler comes at a time of rising rhetoric against independent voices in the country,” the UN experts concluded.