“It’s a blow to Philippine press freedom”
Ganito inilarawan ng news website na Rappler ang pag-revoked ng Securities and Exchange sa kanilang registration dahil sa umano’y paglabag sa ilang mga probisyon sa Saligang Batas.
Sa ginanap na En Banc session ng SEC, kanilang sinabi na nilabag ng Rappler ang probisyon sa Konstitusyon kaugnay na nagbabawal sa mga foreign companies na magpondo o kaya ay magtayo ng media entities sa bansa.
Sinabi ng SEC na ang Rappler ay pinopondohan ng Omidyar Network nap ag-aari ng Ebay founder at negosyanteng si Pierre Omidyar.
Pinawalang saysay rin ng SEC ang Omidyar Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) kasabay ng kanselasyon ng Certificate of Incorporation ng Rappler.
Nauna nang sinabi ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte na ipatitigil niya ang operasyon ng Rappler dahil sa pagpopondo dito ng ilang foreign firms.
Sa kanilang pahayag, sinabi ng Rappler na nakalulungkot ang desisyon ang SEC pero itutuloy nila ang kanilang tungkulin na maghatid ng balita sa publiko.
Narito ang bahagi ng kanilang pahayag:
“We thought this day would never come, even as we were warned in the first of week of December last year that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would be handing down a ruling against us.
Because we have acted in good faith and adhered to the best standards in a fast-evolving business environment, we were confident that the country’s key business regulator would put public interest above other interests that were at play in this case.
We were, in fact, initially relieved that it was the SEC that initiated what appeared to us as a customary due diligence act, considering our prior information that it was the Office of the Solicitor General that had formed, as early as November 2016, a special team to build a case against us.
We were wrong.
The SEC’s kill order revoking Rappler’s license to operate is the first of its kind in history – both for the Commission and for Philippine media”.
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