THE MOMENT you shout “defend press freedom” in a rally or post it on social media or even write about it and you’re not arrested, then you’re a liar or just a trendy social climbing fool used by Maria Ressa.
The latest trend and fashionable thing the cappuccino-infused trendy social climbers are doing these days is to shout “democracy is dead” and “assault on press freedom” but they seem to have run out of issues to justify their shrill shouts. Nobody cares anymore about Cory Aquino and all that EDSA nonsense and their hero, that legally ugly blogger Jover Laurio, was exposed as just a paid hack financed no less by Kris Aquino.
They have nothing new to throw at President Rodrigo Duterte and their other champion, the “Barefoot Lady from Naga” Leni Robredo, is at best ignored.
They needed something fast otherwise they will just fade into oblivion.
And just last Wednesday, Feb. 13, their prayers were answered. Maria Ressa, the chief executive officer of Rappler – that property development company pretending to be an online news outfit – was served with a warrant of arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI for the crime of cyber libel.
She was detained at the NBI and was released the next day after posting a bail of P100,000.
As if on cue the shrill voices of the trendy social climbers, “devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon” and just about anybody who hates President Rodrigo Duterte screamed “assault on press freedom”, “democracy is dead” and everyone wear black and hold the line with Maria Ressa.
By the way, what happened to all those yellow shirts? Is yellow no longer the color of the disente trendy social climbers?
Let me give you a bit of background about Maria Ressa and her Rappletes. Last year the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC investigated and confirmed Rappler was in violation of the Constitution. It is not owned and controlled by Filipino citizens but by foreign nationals which is strictly prohibited, in the case of media entities as what Rappler claims to be.
Then the Bureau of Internal Revenue or BIR just recently charged Maria Ressa and officers of Rappler with tax evasion.
And let’s go to the cyber libel case. Here are pertinent facts:
The case stemmed from an article posted by Rappler in May 2012 against a businessman, Wilfredo Keng, whereby the said article alleged that Chief Justice Corona used an SUV owned by Keng during his impeachment trial.
Keng sued not because of the SUV angle but because the Rappler story maliciously imputed that he is engaged in human trafficking and illegal drugs.
Keng sued for cyber libel in October 2017, or five years after the original story was posted. There was no cyber libel law yet when the story came out in May 2012. The Cyber Libel Law came in effect September 2012.
However, instead of heeding the request of Keng to take down the story, Rappler posted an update on the same story in February 2014, when the cyber libel law was already in effect.
Last Jan. 10, the Department of Justice (DOJ) found probable cause against Maria Ressa, reporter/researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. and Rappler for cyber libel.
The DOJ rejected the motion of Ressa’s camp to dismiss the charge based on their argument that the filing was beyond the one year prescription period. The DOJ said that under the cyber libel law, there is no 1 Year prescription period indicated.
Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa issued a warrant of arrest dated Feb. 12, 2019, Tuesday.
Ressa had the whole day of Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 to post bail. But she did not do so and instead invited media people to her office prior to the arrival of the NBI personnel who were to serve the warrant of arrest.
So “assault on press freedom”… my foot!
Maria Ressa was waiting for this as she needed another issue to malign President Rodrigo Duterte, our justice system and the country to her financiers/handlers abroad.
Take note folks, the late Danny Fajardo, founder of Panay News, had more than 100 libel cases filed against him; did he cry “assault on press freedom”? No, he took it like a true journalist and stood his ground in the proper forum which is the court.
I have been a journalist for 32 years and counting and I have had six libel cases filed against me by onion-skinned politicians who are mostly dead now; anyway all these cases were dismissed. Like most of my peers and colleagues, what I did was to face them in court and stand my ground in the proper forum and not cry like a spoiled child with all the drama and tantrums.
I have paid my dues, have you?
Those wimps, bleeding hearts and upstarts who scream in their shrill voices that they will “stand with Maria Ressa” are gullible fools used by Maria Ressa.
Take note that every time Maria Ressa does these “dramatic episodes”, the financial support from her foreign handlers and financiers steadily flows. In short, Maria is laughing her way to the bank.
And what about those idiots that stand with her? Are they also partaking of the largesse from Maria Ressa’s foreign financiers? Of course not.
At best they are just expendable props who have no idea that they’re just being used. All of Maria Ressa’s drama and antics are profitable for her, never mind the trendy social climbers…ahay. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)
