Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and CEO of Rappler, speaks to reporters after she was acquitted by the Pasig Regional Trial Court in a tax evasion case in Pasig City, Philippines, on September 12, 2023. | Photo credit: AP
A court has ruled that Philippine news site Rappler can continue to operate, according to a copy of the decision released to the media on Friday (August 9, 2024), the latest legal victory for the media organization.
The appeals court overturned a previous ruling by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which ordered the shutdown of the company co-founded by Nobel laureate Maria Ressa.
Ms Ressa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, was a vocal critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte and the deadly drug war he launched in 2016.
That led to a series of criminal charges, investigations and online attacks against him and Rappler, media advocates say.
The appeals court issued its decision on July 23, “reversing and vacating” the SEC’s decision on the grounds that its order was a “serious abuse of discretion.”
The court said this was in violation of “established procedures, jurisprudential and legal guidelines and the clear intent of the Constitution”.
The SEC shutdown order was issued on June 29, 2022, a day before Mr. Duterte left office.