Two days before the end of Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency in the Philippines, the government issued an order to close the investigative journalism portal Rappler, according to the Nobel Peace Prize winner and the site’s co-founder, Maria Ressa. Rappler gained notoriety by publicizing allegations of human rights abuses committed by the country’s regime.
“Part of the reason I didn’t get much sleep last night is because we got a shutdown order,” she said during a speech in Honolulu, Hawaii, according to the AP news agency. The journalist stated that she intends to appeal. “We are not going to close,” she said on Tuesday (28). “I mean, I shouldn’t say that.”
Duterte is the subject of investigations into crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, mainly due to the war on drugs policy in which he allegedly sponsored death squads that execute traffickers and users of illicit substances. He will hand over the presidency of the Philippines this Thursday (30) to former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled the country with an iron fist between 1965 and 1986. The current president’s daughter, Sara Duterte, will take over as vice president.
Ressa is the subject of several lawsuits for his work as a journalist. In 2019, she was arrested on charges of violating controversial “cyber defamation” legislation over a report in which she accused a Filipino businessman of illegal activities. In 2021, she was the first Filipina to receive a Nobel Peace Prize, alongside Russian journalist Dmitri Muratov, co-founder of Novaia Gazeta, one of the main newspapers opposed to Vladimir Putin.
According to Rappler, the current closing order dates back to 2018, when the portal received a contribution from Omidyar, a foreign investor, which was considered contrary to the country’s Constitution, which prevents media companies from being controlled by foreign citizens. The website states, however, that the case reached the Supreme Court in 2019, which saw no illegality.
In a statement sent to the portal’s employees on Tuesday night, the company’s management asked for “clarity, agility and sobriety.” “In the meantime, it’s business as usual for us. We’ll adapt, adjust, survive and thrive,” he said.
The order to close was issued days after the National Security Council of the country’s other news site in the country, Bulatlat.com, based on the anti-terrorism law.
