{"id":269309,"date":"2020-09-20T05:08:48","date_gmt":"2020-09-20T09:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=269309"},"modified":"2020-09-20T05:08:48","modified_gmt":"2020-09-20T09:08:48","slug":"pcoo-rejects-eu-parliament-call-to-drop-charges-vs-ressa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/09\/20\/pcoo-rejects-eu-parliament-call-to-drop-charges-vs-ressa\/","title":{"rendered":"PCOO rejects EU Parliament call to drop charges vs. Ressa"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He said Ressa\u2019s claim that the criminal charges against her were being utilized to silence the press, would be a \u201ctotal disregard to the rule of law and due process as prescribed by the Constitution.\u201d (File photo<\/a>: Martin Andanar\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 A Palace official on Sunday rejected the call of European lawmakers for Philippine government to drop all charges against Rappler chief executive Maria Ressa, standing by the legitimacy of the criminal charges against her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain firm in our position on Ms. Maria Ressa and her unfounded allegations against President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his administration,\u201d Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Andanar made this remark after the European Parliament on Thursday (Sept. 17) approved a resolution urging the Philippine government to drop \u201cpolitically motivated\u201d charges against Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. expressing alarm over the \u201cdeteriorating level of press freedom\u201d in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legitimacy of the criminal charges against Rappler and Ms. Ressa for their violations to the anti-dummy law, securities code, income tax law, and the cyber libel, for which she was convicted, are founded on the Philippines\u2019 jurisprudence and Constitution,\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

He said Ressa\u2019s claim that the criminal charges against her were being utilized to silence the press, would be a \u201ctotal disregard to the rule of law and due process as prescribed by the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Andanar, Ressa has been accusing the administration of manipulation through the government\u2019s propaganda machines when she simply refused to recognize the administration\u2019s initiatives and high approval rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer continued allegations against the administration are being done deliberately to escape from her legal obligations,\u201d Andanar said.<\/p>\n

Despite Ressa\u2019s claims that there are attempts to silence critics, Andanar said Ressa continues to enjoy her inherent right to express her beliefs and thoughts, whether they be verified or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Philippines continues to enjoy a plurality of voices, expression, opinions, and beliefs; hence, the continued operations of Rappler and Ms. Ressa\u2019s pursuit for self-justification in response to their legal obligations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Since the start of the President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s term in 2016, he said the government has worked hard to change the global stigma placed on the Philippines as one of the deadliest and worst places for journalists and media workers in the world as reported by the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters without Borders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe administration has undertaken initiatives and endeavors that promote media protection and rights, such as the creation of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security (PTFoMS) and the Republic Act 114581 or the Expanded Sotto Law. Such attainment for a better status year by year on the list has been recognized by diplomatic delegations, including the European Union,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Citing the Social Weather Stations\u2019 survey last 2019, he said the government\u2019s commitment to promote media protection and rights is also reflected in the poll which showed that three out of five Filipinos believe that they can speak \u201copenly and without fear\u201d on different issues.<\/p>\n

Andanar said the Philippines has maintained a satisfactory position in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Democracy Index at 54th rank in 2019.<\/p>\n

He reiterated that administration will continue to promote rights, freedom, and security of media workers and in observance of the rule of law and due process in spite of certain individuals and groups\u2019 efforts to undermine their progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe freedom of expression and press freedom have never been and will never be curtailed by the Duterte administration,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In June, Ressa and Santos were convicted of cyber libel over the complaint filed in 2017 by Filipino-Chinese businessman Wilfredo Keng.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 A Palace official on Sunday rejected the call of European lawmakers for Philippine government to drop all charges against …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":269310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-269309","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\/269309","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=269309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":269311,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269309\/revisions\/269311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}