Rappler Chief Executive Officer and Executive Editor Maria Ressa appeared at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) this morning after she was served a subpoena for alleged cyber libel.
The complaint was filed by William Keng, a businessman who was the subject of a Rappler investigative report back in 2012.
Ressa, former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr., and businessman Benjamin Bitanga, who owns Dolphin Fire, a company invested in Rappler, were all ordered to appear at the NBI today.
Only Ressa reported to the NBI office.
“We are here. We have nothing to hide,” Ressa told reporters during an ambush interview after the NBI summons.
The NBI is looking into pressing cyber libel charges but here’s the thing: The article was published in May 2012 but the cybercrime law was only enacted in September that year.
The NBI, however, cited a “continuous publication” theory to justify filing charges for a law that didn’t even exist at the time.
NBI Cybercrime Division Chief Manuel Antonio Eduarte explained that he believes that as long as the article is still online, charges can still be filed even if it was first published before the law existed.
“Even if it was posted in 2012, it can still be seen at the time they filed a complaint, or at the time the law was passed, so our presumption as far as our investigation is concerned, they still violated the cybercrime law,” Eduarte said in Filipino.
Rappler lawyer and cybercrime expert JJ Disini, however, disputed this and said that if the courts find the theory valid, it could spell bad news for freedom of speech in the Philippines.
“If the theory is that if a libelous article is published in the past and continues to be accessible today, and that constitutes libel today, then no one is safe. Anyone that has a libelous article that continues to be accessible may be charged with libel, and moving forward, this affects everyone, not just media, even bloggers,” Disini said.
Disini also pointed out that even if Rappler was sued under traditional libel laws, the prescription period to file a complaint is only one year.
Ressa believes the complaint is part of a concerted effort to shut down Rappler
“I believe this is a concerted effort that can have impact on all of us, on press freedom. We will continue to fight on any front that opens. We will face any charge against us,” she also said.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued a decision revoking Rappler’s business registration for allegedly violating foreign ownership restrictions on Philippine media companies.
Rappler plans to contest the decision.
Aside from Rappler, Duterte had threatened to block the franchise renewal of broadcast giant ABS-CBN, while his friend Ramon Ang, president of the San Miguel Corporation, purchased the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
These moves prompted journalists to gather in Quezon City last Friday to protest what they believe are the administration’s efforts to curtail press freedom.
“The end goal of all of this is to intimidate us into silence,” Ressa said during the protest.
