{"id":258257,"date":"2020-06-17T00:25:56","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T04:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=258257"},"modified":"2020-06-17T00:25:56","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T04:25:56","slug":"ressa-blurring-lines-between-press-freedom-legal-obligations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/17\/ressa-blurring-lines-between-press-freedom-legal-obligations\/","title":{"rendered":"Ressa ‘blurring lines’ between press freedom, legal obligations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Rappler, in a statement, also called the guilty verdict as “a dangerous precedent not only for journalists but for everyone online.” (PCOO file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa and her supporters are “blurring the lines” between press freedom and legal obligations by blaming President Rodrigo Duterte for her conviction on a cyber libel case, a Palace official said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar denounced the \u201cunfounded\u201d and \u201cbaseless\u201d allegations linking the President to the conviction of Ressa and researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. for cyber libel.<\/p>\n

Andanar said the complainant, businessman Wilfredo Keng, is a private individual and had his own basic human right to seek justice for their supposed unfair news report from the country\u2019s \u201cindependent\u201d and \u201cimpartial\u201d courts.<\/p>\n

Keng filed cyber libel charges against Ressa and Santos in 2017 for naming him in a 2012 report as having lent his sports utility vehicle for the use of then chief justice Renato Corona, who was facing impeachment and being under surveillance by the National Security Council for alleged involvement in human trafficking and drug smuggling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith Rappler\u2019s constant refusal and denial of Mr. Keng\u2019s basic human rights on the matter, the latter sought justice and protection of his rights from the Philippines\u2019 independent and impartial courts, which decided that Ms. Ressa and Mr. Santos were guilty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Andanar explained that saying the President had a hand in her conviction was a \u201cblatant disregard of the fact that the judiciary is separate from the executive branch,\u201d which in turn, showed disrespect for the independence and impartiality of the Regional Trial Court that decided on her case.<\/p>\n

He pointed out that doing so was also \u201ca denial that people are legally answerable for violating the law, whether that person is a journalist or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision of Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 on the case was not an attack on press freedom nor on freedom of speech, but an adherence to the rule of law and due process prescribed in our democratic constitution,\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

He added that their conviction is \u201ca case of accountability\u201d and a product of their \u201cdisregard\u201d and \u201cnegligence\u201d of Keng\u2019s rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough Rappler, Ms. Ressa, and their supporters continue to conveniently blur the lines between press freedom and legal obligations, we must all continue to be reminded that we are all bound by the laws of the land and that the exercise of freedom must be used with due regard to the rights and freedom of others,\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Estacio-Montesa sentenced Ressa and Santos to imprisonment ranging from six months and one day to six years and ordered them to pay Keng PHP400,000 in moral and exemplary damages.<\/p>\n

Opposition lawmakers, media groups, and international organizations have slammed the conviction, describing it as an attack on press freedom.<\/p>\n

Rappler, in a statement, also called the guilty verdict as “a dangerous precedent not only for journalists but for everyone online.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa and her supporters are “blurring the lines” between press freedom and legal obligations …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":146414,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258257"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258257\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258258,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258257\/revisions\/258258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}