Duterte says no attack on media amid outrage over Maria Ressa arrest 

Photo: ABS-CBN News
Photo: ABS-CBN News

I have got nothing to do with that.

That’s the gist of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s response when reporters probed him yesterday about the recent arrest of journalist Maria Ressa.

Reporters told the president after his party’s proclamation rally in Bulacan yesterday that many were blaming him for Ressa’s arrest, to which he simply answered, “Aysusmaryosep (an exclamation of anger or frustration). Far from it,” GMA News reported.

International and local journalists, human rights groups, and universities immediately rallied behind Ressa after she was arrested on Wednesday for a charge of cyber libel.

This includes CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour who called on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to free Ressa.

“You know a government is desperate when they arrest a journalist. President Duterte: FREE @mariaressa,” she said in a tweet.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland also said she was “deeply troubled” by the arrest, while the United States Embassy in Manila called for due process in Ressa’s case.

Duterte was so committed to disassociating himself with the issue that he said he did not even know that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had arrested Ressa, the same GMA News story states.

Ressa was detained overnight at the NBI’s headquarters in Manila after authorities declined to accept her bail. She was eventually released yesterday after successfully posting bail worth PHP100,000 (US$1,915) at the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46.

“Somebody asked me, ‘Are you scared?’ Good God, no. This is more evidence…. This use of power is meant to make me fear. And you know what? I don’t scare easily,” Ressa said after she posted bail, according to Rappler.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, however, cited Ressa’s calm disposition to say that the journalist is “enjoying” the controversy.

“In fact, I think Maria, she looks like she’s enjoying it. She’s been smiling all the while,” he said in Filipino and English to radio station dzMM.

He even went as far as saying that Ressa was making “a mountain out of a molehill.”

Panelo also emphasized in the radio interview that the complaint came from a private citizen.

Duterte, yesterday, also denied links with Wilfredo Keng, the businessperson who filed the complaint against Ressa.

“I do not know Keng. Frankly, I do not know him and what prompted him to file the case,” Duterte said in Filipino and English, according to CNN Philippines.

Duterte has publicly derided Rappler — which has been critical of his administration — multiple times, even calling it “fake news” and banning one of its reporters from the presidential palace, Malacañang.

 



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