On October 11, in a press conference of many contradictory statements, Malacañang finally addressed Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize 2021 win that was announced on October 8.
The news easily eclipsed the end of filing of candidacy for the May 2022 elections that day despite the many surprising and eyebrow-raising turns during the deadline. Ressa is the first individual Filipino Nobel laureate. Even US President Joe Biden beat the Palace in congratulating Ressa.
Malacañang also belatedly addressed the untimely death on October 9 of Commission on Human Rights Chair Chito Gascon, who had been insulted by President Rodrigo Duterte in the past for his support for investigations on the war on drugs.
“Sa ibang mga bagay, binabati natin si Maria Ressa bilang kauna-unahang Pilipino na nagwagi sa Nobel Peace Prize. At siyempre, nakikiramay rin po kami sa pagyao ni Commission on Human Rights chairman Jose Luis Martin ‘Chito’ Gascon,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said at the 9:30 mark of the press con video.
[On other things, we congratulate Maria Ressa as the first Filipino to win the Nobel Prize. And of course, we extend our condolences for the passing of Jose Luis Martin ‘Chito’ Gascon.]
The first question during the open forum was what Ressa’s award meant to the government.
In the same breath, Roque recognized Ressa’s achievement then hit her, “It’s a victory for a Filipina, and we’re very happy for that kasi wala naman pong utak talangka dito sa [there’s no crab mentality here in] Malacañang. But of course, it is true that there are individuals who feel that Maria Ressa still has to clear her name before our courts as in fact she is a convicted felon for cyberlibel in the Philippines and she faces other cases in the Philippines. That’s for the courts to decide. ”
Ressa’s cyberlibel conviction last year along with Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr. is on appeal and was seen as a blow to press freedom in one of Asia’s oldest democracies. Libel and cyberlibel in the country remain as criminal cases despite journalists call to decriminalize them. Cyberlibel even had stiffer penalties—the law that journalists, the public and even Roque opposed when it was passed in 2012.
Losing no time after hitting Ressa, Roque said “Of course we are very mindful of a very articulate article written by National Artist F. Sionil Jose”, then readily flashed a chosen excerpt of the writer’s post on October 9 that has the title “Maria Ressa does not deserve the Nobel.”
Roque read Jose’s writeup with the quote “Philippine press is alive and well not because of Maria Ressa.”
Roque then said, “Let’s just say Malacañang agrees with our national artists.”
On October 10, the Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) issued a statement and said that its members are “entitled to their own opinions,” including its founder. They mentioned right away how in 2020, its Board of Directors issued a statement decrying Ressa’s conviction for cyberlibel as a severe blow to press freedom. In the 85th Congress of the PEN International, hosted by the Philippine PEN in 2019, had passed a resolution supporting her and Ressa was a plenary speaker during the Manila congress.
“Whether one agrees or not with the decision of the Nobel to award its peace prize to certain personalities, one cannot deny that press freedom and human rights have been under attack in the Philippines under the government of Rodrigo Duterte,” said PEN.
Roque countered the essence of why Ressa and Dmitry Muratov won the award and why it was given to journalists this year by saying, “It is not a slap on the government, it was made by private individuals in Norway. We respect their decision, but as I said criminal liability of Maria Ressa remains pending in our courts…”
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee said the two journalists were given the award for their “courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.”
“At the same time, they are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions,” Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
Roque also said that the government did not close down any media outfit and asked the members of the press to name an outlet that the president has ordered closed.
ABS-CBN closed last year following the non-renewal of its franchise. The closure came through a series of verbal attacks from the president, threatening ABS-CBN not to expect a franchise renewal, saying he would “see to it that you’re out.” Then, the House of Representatives (HOR), where the president supposedly enjoys a supermajority, belatedly tackled the network’s franchise application until it expired. Despite the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) promise to the Lower House to provide the network with a provisional authority while the Lower House completes its deliberations on the franchise, the government’s lawyer the Office of the Solicitor General countered this and the NTC instead issued a cease and desist order to the biggest broadcast network in the country. The Lower House would tackle the franchise later, investigate the claims against ABS-CBN from various government agencies who attested that ABS-CBN had no violations. Still, they denied the network a franchise, saying it is their prerogative to give or deny it.
Later, in July 2020, Duterte said in a speech in Jolo, Sulu but was edited out for the public release, “Yun namang ABS-CBN, binaboy ako. Pero sinabi ko kapag ako nanalo, bubuwagin ko ang oligarchy ng Pilipinas. Ginawa ko.”
[That ABS-CBN, they ruined me. But I said, if I win, I will destroy the oligarchy of the Philippines. I did it.]
“You cannot blame Congress for not renewing the franchise of ABS-CBN because that is one of their powers,” Roque said.
Roque added that there were no writers in jail nor did censorship exist in the country
The Philippine Daily Inquirer in an editorial on October 11 said, “Along with ABS-CBN and this paper, Rappler was the target of presidential threats and attacks from the onset of the current administration.”
The company almost sold to Duterte campaign donor Ramon Ang amid harassment on a land lease deal of the owners, the Prietos.
Rappler and its journalists are still barred from covering Duterte and going to Malacañang. Before the ban, that journalists have challenged before the Supreme Court, Duterte has berated Rappler journalist Pia Ranada during coverage and called Rappler a “fake news outlet.”
The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) delivered a scathing rebuke of Roque in its statement on October 12.
“As someone who once stood before the Supreme Court bench and defended the freedom of the press against the Cybercrime Prevention Act, you should know that censorship comes in many forms,” said NUJP.
The group laid down the many press freedom attacks it had monitored under Duterte.
The group also directly responded to Roque’s statement, “A journalist who claims [that there’s] a chilling effect should not be a journalist.”
“That the media continues to report does not mean that the actions of the government have not created a chilling effect,” the group said in its statement.
“Attorney Roque, when 20 of us have been killed, four of us have been jailed, when there have been 37 cases of libel brought against our own, and 230 cases of varied attacks in our ranks, we feel the big chill. But we will keep doing our job despite it, because our audience deserves a press that persist,” it continued.
The NUJP ended by saying, “As the Palace gave journalists unsolicited advice, we have some for you as well: A supposed human rights lawyer who blames the media for calling attention to threats and restrictions against them isn’t actually a human rights lawyer.”
On the same day, Roque responded to the statement with his own, sent to Malacañang reporters, “The Philippines is a democratic society and every view, regardless of affiliation, must be accorded with respect.”
“Having said this, we regard F. Sionil Jose’s opinion as the better view of the state of the press freedom in the country,” he said, sticking with his National Artist reference in his earlier press conference.
