MANILA – Online news outfit Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa said she is getting “special treatment” from the Duterte administration after posting bail six times in just two months over different cases.
In a radio interview on Saturday afternoon, where she was the guest along with Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo, Ressa said the treatment she gets from the government is “not regular.”
“I think I am getting special treatment – a lot more cases with less time and a lot more warrants than I should be getting. Mamamahayag lang po ako,” Ressa said in an interview with DZMM.
She added: “The big picture is that six na beses na po akong nagpiyansa sa loob ng dalawang buwan. Hindi po regular ‘yun. While I respect Secretary Panelo’s views, we can counter every single one of them. What we want to do is continue doing our jobs.”
Ressa also pointed out the irregularities in her arrest last Wednesday. The National Bureau of Investigation served the arrest warrant against her after 5 p.m. when the courts have closed for the day.
The Rappler CEO added that the judge of the night court in Pasay City where she attempted to post bail wanted to “get a response” from the DOJ and refused her bail even if it had the power to accept it.
Panelo, in response to Ressa’s statements, insisted that the rule of law was observed in the processing of complaints against her and it was not the government’s ways of curtailing critics.
“‘Yung sinasabi niya mga iregularidad, perception niya lang ‘yun…‘Yung sinasabi mong rule of law na i-observe eh in-observe nga ‘yun sayo kasi binigyan ka ng karapatan na sagutin ang demanda sayo. Nagkaroon ng preliminary investigation,” Panelo said.
He added: “Sinasabing weaponization, eh siya nga ang gumagamit ng batas kasi ‘yung freedom of the press ginagamit niya laban sa gobyerno just because idinemanda siya.”/PN
The answer is really simple, in order not to have 6 warrant in 2 months is to limit your violation of the law to 1 per month… there.