The Philippine government has revoked the operating licence of Rappler, one of the country’s leading news websites, officials said on Monday.
Rappler, set up in 2012, is among a clutch of Philippine news organisations that have sparred with Duterte over their critical coverage of his brutal drugs war.
The government has denied accusations that it is targeting media outlets critical of President Rodrigo Duterte.
At his state of the nation address to Congress last year Duterte vowed to expose Rappler’s “American ownership”.
“The issue at hand is the compliance of 100% Filipino ownership and management of mass media.
It is not about infringement on the freedom of the press,” Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement Monday.
“No one is above the law. Rappler has to comply,” Roque added.
Rappler maintains that any foreign investment received does not affect the website’s ownership and described the move as “pure harassment”.
“[They are] existing for no other purpose than to effect a deceptive scheme to circumvent the constitution,” the SEC ( Securities and Exchange Commission) said in an 11 January ruling to revoke Rappler’s certificates of incorporation that was posted on the commission’s website Monday.
Rights group Amnesty International condemned the Rappler ruling, calling it “an alarming attempt to silence independent journalism”.
“This is a politically motivated decision, pure and simple, and just the latest attempt to go after anyone who dares to criticise the government,” said James Gomez, Amnesty’s regional director for south-east Asia and the Pacific.
> Shiuly Akter
