Our constitution is patterned after the United States. It is the first time that this regulatory agency has tried to shut down a news group, meaning to go right up against freedom of the press, which is in the bill of rights.
#Rules of survival shutting down license#
The SEC's kill order, when they tried to revoke our license to operate, is the first of its kind in the history of the Philippines. This is the tail end of that, and we should have the ability to challenge it at the court of appeals, to appeal this, right? But you have to keep in mind two things. We received the SEC, which is a minor regulatory agency here, to revoke our license to operate in January of 2018. RESSA: It ostensibly is the end of a long court process that began in 2016. So as you understand it, what are the implications of this order for you all to shut down? SUMMERS: This shutdown order came just as Rodrigo Duterte was set to leave office. We covered the inauguration of President Marcos, and we continue to do our jobs. So when you get, like, what is equivalent of a shutdown order, do you stay quiet about it and wait, or do you tell people about it, you tell your community about it? We chose to tell our community, and we are working business as usual. It's - our only defense as a journalist is to actually shine the light. SUMMERS: Just to start, right now, is Rappler currently up and running? MARIA RESSA: Thanks for having me, Juana. Rappler's founder, Nobel Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa, plans to battle that shutdown order in court. The publication was critical of the former president's violent war on drugs. Duterte had long sought to shut down Rappler. His government argued that Rappler had violated foreign ownership rules. This order came just days before former President Rodrigo Duterte left office. Last week in the Philippines, the government again ordered the shutdown of the online news outlet Rappler.