Category: maria ressa

in fairness to cory

not surprisingly, social media are dredging up the libel case that president cory aquino filed vs. louie beltran in october 1987 and asking if maria ressa’s case is comparable.  but surprisingly, and dismayingly, the video i happened to catch on my facebook newsfeed, courtesy of ONENews #RushHour, opened with this:

V.O.  Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s libel case may be the first of its kind against a Philippine president…

huh?  ressa filed a libel case against the president?  fake news ba ito o wishful thinking.  lol.  and here’s another booboo, a minute and some 40 seconds in.

V.O.  The Court of Appeals however dismissed the case in 1995 acquitting Soliven and Beltran, but it was too late for Beltran who died a year after the case was dismissed. [bold mine]

HUH?  too late indeed, but certainly not for the reason indicated.  sloppy work, ONENews #RushHour!  bakit nakakalusot ang blatant errors na ganyan?  walang nag-e-edit ng scripts, walang nagmomonitor ng taping, walang fact-checking, masyado kasing madalian, rush nga?

well, hindi naman sila nag-iisa.  also caught a phone interview (by some social media group) of a UP academic who said the cory case happened in 1989.  maybe his source was the online copy of another UP prof’s 2003 column/essay that has mercifully since been corrected.  at least #RushHour got that one right.

but watch the video anyway for cito beltran’s defense of his dad.

CITO BELTRAN. … the president herself pointed out that she could not possibly fit under the bed because there was no space under the bed.  logic lang will say, apparently that she was misled, that my father was calling her a coward….

and read Hiding under the bed, my reaction back in 1995, published in ISYU, jarius bondoc’s all-opinion tabloid, soon after the case was dismissed on appeal.  in fairness to cory.

ressa, keng, and the NBI

feb 15.  caught karen davila with guest maria ressa on headstart.  na-dejavu ako.  i first met the two over a private lunch in a fancy hotel some 8 years ago, but that’s another story,

much more interesting is this cyberlibel case filed against ressa for an article rappler posted in 2012.  check out abs-cbn news‘ Timeline: Rappler, Maria Ressa’s cyber libel case.

check out also the updated (in 2014) version  of the 2012 article CJ using SUVs of ‘controversial’ businessmen.

the rappler article says that the information on wilfredo keng was based on an intelligence report prepared in 2002 that rappler got hold of and which detailed keng’s past.

The report stated that Keng had been under surveillance by the National Security Council for alleged involvement in illegal activities, namely “human trafficking and drug smuggling.” He is supposedly close to lawmakers and had contacts with the US embassy at the time.

curiously, CMFR’s vergel santos in a feb 14 ANC interview said that it is the NBI that should be charged with libel.

VERGEL SANTOS. …the man who is accusing rappler of libel is saying that he was not the sort of man that certain intelligence reports make him out to be.  not rappler by the way…  he should libel the NBI, not rappler.  rappler was simply reporting what he is made out to be in certain reports.  it’s perfectly clear and straighforward reporting.   (7:50 = 7:14) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVARBtsVtfs

the NBI?  the NBI was not mentioned at all in the updated article.  but on headstart, davila repeated santos’s gripe for ressa’s lawyer (who was also on cam from some other location) to comment on, but i didn’t quite get the gist of jj disini’s convoluted response.

QUESTION.  sa NBI nga ba galing ang intell report?  paano nalaman ni vergel santos?  was that information contained in the original article but edited out of the 2014 updated version?  if yes, why?  maybe because the document was obtained and used by rappler without the knowledge and permission of the NBI?

and then there’s  this, from keng’s official statement dated feb 14.  meron daw siyang NBI clearance.

Rappler, Ressa and Santos never attempted to obtain my side on the crimes they wrongly imputed to me or to fact-check their baseless attacks against my name. I have never had a criminal record. For almost four decades since I started working, I have consistently secured official clearance from the National Bureau of Investigation certifying that I have never been involved in any criminal case and have never had any criminal history. Since the 1980’s, I have never been investigated by or summoned before any law enforcement agency in connection with any alleged criminal act, much less have I been indicted, arrested, detained or convicted of any crime in the Philippines. Further, the National Bureau of Investigation, as the central repository and chief administrator of the country’s criminal history records, would never have found in my favor and filed the complaint against Rappler, along with its concerned officers and reporter, for cyber libel concerning defamatory imputation of crime if had any criminal record or history in their files.

so.  ano ba talaga, ressa?  ano ba talaga, NBI?  who is telling the truth?  did ressa make up that intell report?  if not, how did she get hold of it?

in his official statement, sey din ni keng:

Upon seeing the libelous article and prior to resorting to judicial remedies, I tried to formally and informally communicate with Rappler in order to have the said article taken down, clear my name and restore my reputation, at least, to the extent possible given the fact that irreparable damage had already been done, multiplied a million-fold because Rappler’s website continues to be accessible by the whole world. In turn, Rappler, likewise through formal and informal channels, repeatedly promised me that they will take down the subject article, but never did. The libelous attacks remain posted on their website until now.  [bold mine]

*irreparable damage has multiplied a million-fold* … hmmm.  is that in pesos, as in millions of pesoses lost?

as expected, social media is awash with information on wilfredo keng — ito ba talaga ang gusto niyang mangyari?

going viral, for instance, is a facebook post, WHO IS WILFREDO KENG? with data from the Philippine Stock Exchange website and DENR.  it would seem that 2017 was “an exciting year for keng.”  and 2018 too, it would seem, given this: Century Peak picked to undertake PPP reclamation project in Cavite.  

rappler‘s article doesn’t seem to have stopped the duterte admin from awarding him big ticket projects.  and he certainly took long enough, waited, it would seem, almost five years before, umm, pouncing on ressa?  as if, on cue?

and then there’s this facebook status of friend steve “based on his observation of the cast of usual suspects.”

STEVE SALONGA. There is a deliberate all-media campaign to capitalize on the Ressa case. Ostensibly for election purposes but with the hope of some magical rainbow coalition forming to oust the President.  The president has no known relationship with the private complainant.

here’s hoping ressa is preparing to mount a serious defense rather than counting on extrajudicial and / or magical measures, as in, an edsa-for-ressa, what a punchline, and to what end?  edsas are for ousting presidents in the hope of systemic change, not for demanding…what?…uh, that the NBI and the BIR drop all charges against ressa?  or else, what?  and will setting her free to publish what she pleases solve any of the problems besetting nation today?

not in a million years.

Of Black Flags and Careless Connections

By Marck Ronald Rimorin

In her latest “Thought Leaders” piece for Rappler.com, Maria Ressa writes:

Much like the Madrid bombings in 2004 that killed 191 people and the London bombings in 2005 that killed 52, the Boston bombings were carried out by men who integrated into their societies and benefited from the liberalism and inclusiveness of the West. Yet, despite their seemingly Western ways, the attackers in London and Madrid harbored deep hatred sparked by al-Qaeda’s virulent ideology – perhaps much like Tamerlan, who said, “I don’t have a single American friend. I don’t understand them.”

Read on 

ressa’s chilling effect

silence
by radikalchick

because i’d be lying if i said that Maria Ressa throwing the words libel and malicious my way didn’t render me speechless, literally and figuratively.

but maybe what was worse than throwing that my way was the fact that it was also retracted with a brush-off: filing a case would be too much for too little. i haven’t been patronized like this publicly, have never felt let down by someone i respect since, oh i don’t know, i applied for a job at UP Diliman and got a version of this from an ex-teacher. but this is different from the latter in that i was not applying for a job with Ressa, and there is no — there is no — notion of seniority that should have mattered here. of course randomsalt has so succinctly pointed out that it isn’t what it seems from where Ressa stands.

Read on