Guevarra confident no law violated in Ressa’s arrest

By Rey Panaligan and Genalyn Kabiling

Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra said Sunday Rappler Chief Executive Officer Maria Ressa was welcome to file suits against him and the government on her indictment and arrest on a cyber libel complaint filed by a businessman.

“We are performing our duties to prosecute anyone who breaks the law. We are confident that her allegations will not prosper because we have not violated any law. So just go ahead and bring it on,” Guevarra said.

Maria Ressa (C), CEO and Executive Editor of online news site Rappler and President of Rappler Holdings Corporation, is escorted by the NBI as she arrives to post bail on her cyber libel case in Manila trial court, February 14, 2019.. (CZAR DANCEL / MANILA BULLETIN)

The secretary’s statement was a reaction to Ressa’s threat to hold the government accountable for her ordeal.

Earlier Ressa had said: “What the government has done is to actually forge us in fire. It made me, as the CEO and a journalist, to decide early on that we would live according to our standards and ethics, that we will hold government accountable even if it’s bad for business.”

Guevarra said Ressa was “old enough to know what’s good for her,” and should just face the case before the court without the “theatrics.”

Ressa was arrested last February 13 by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) based on an arrest order issued by the Manila regional trial court (RTC).

The complaint against Ressa was filed by businessman Wilfredo Keng who was portrayed in a May 2012 Rappler article, citing “intelligence report,” as under surveillance for his alleged involvement in human trafficking and drug smuggling.

Meanwhile, a Palace communication team is taking pains to explain to the international community that the government was not behind the cyber libel case filed against Ressa.

Presidential Communication Secretary Martin Andanar said the case of Ressa, which he claimed was not an attack on press freedom, was among the topics being tackled by the Duterte administration’s “Press Freedom Caravan” in Europe.0

The Philippine delegation, that includes senior PCOO officials, is currently in Belgium and will travel to Switzerland afterwards. Bosnia was the first stop of the PCOO caravan last week.