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Padamihan ba ng supporters? Haha! The fact of the matter is she has a case of cyber libel. Can these ignorant meddlers do anything about it?

 

The bottomline is whether Ressa will be convicted or not because these supporters can't do anything if she gets convicted and is behind bars. Will these same people you posted about gather in Edsa to show support for Ressa if she gets convicted? Good luck with that. Haha!

There you go again yapping your nonsense. You totally missed the point Einstein. Sometimes I feel you just have keep on blabbering and that you always have to have the last word (even if it is off tangent). The argument was whether this is political harassment or not and NOT whether these guys can keep her out of jail.

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There you go again yapping your nonsense. You totally missed the point Einstein. Sometimes I feel you just have keep on blabbering and that you always have to have the last word (even if it is off tangent). The argument was whether this is political harassment or not and NOT whether these guys can keep her out of jail.

An ad hominem to counter something which you don't have a retort to. Hahaha! Again , there is a cyber libel case against her. Where is the political harassment there? I am not the one who is off. It is glaringly apparent you did not understand what I posted. I did not miss the point. You did not understand what I posted. Edited by will robie
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The government's beef against Ressa is that she heads a foreign-funded propaganda arm masquerading as a news organization. In addition, Rappler violates the country's rules of incorporation. That is one case.

 

This new one is a totally different case.

 

Maria Ressa was sued for cyber libel by a private individual.

 

The case went through due process in court (note: Judicial branch, not the Executive branch). She was informed by the court about the case filed against her and was given enough time to prepare to post bail. She deliberately ignored the advise and she allowed herself to be arrested to gain media mileage.

 

It is a private libel case being handled in a the court of justice.

 

Whatever the so called "international community" say, they cannot do anything about a private case.

 

Let the case move on.

 

 

BTW, to those who are ignorant about international relations, "International Community" refers to governments of countries. The official opinions of governments are given as official pronouncements by their respective Foreign Affairs Department. Opinions of individuals, whoever they are, are considered private opinions if it is not declared through Foreign Affairs , and therefore not part of "International Community" response.

Edited by camiar
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The government's beef against Ressa is that she heads a foreign-funded propaganda arm masquerading as a news organization....

 

 

First sentence mo palang questionable na eh. What makes you say that Rappler is a propaganda arm? What, to be excact, is the propaganda they are spreading?

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Thats your retort? I give you well respected, non partisan and internationally renowned individuals weighing in on the issue, and you give me sleazeball Panelo? Panelo is full of s@%t - he has always been and will always be full of s@%t. His job is to speak for Duterte - slight bias dont you think?

 

im referring on the process which led to Ressa's Drama..

 

kahit na Lackey ni Pduts si Panelo... he's talking about the process... eh binigyan ka ng isang araw para magfile ng bail hindi mo ginawa....sasabihin mo harrassment!

 

retort retort ka pang nalalaman... labo mo tlagang magisip

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im referring on the process which led to Ressa's Drama..

 

kahit na Lackey ni Pduts si Panelo... he's talking about the process... eh binigyan ka ng isang araw para magfile ng bail hindi mo ginawa....sasabihin mo harrassment!

 

retort retort ka pang nalalaman... labo mo tlagang magisip

 

Paniwalang paniwala ka sa mga palusot ni Panelo what you fail to see are the minor "inconveniences" given to Ressa. Now before you parrot Panelo and say that Ressa wants "special treatment", let me remind you that 1)libel is just a minor case and 2)the charge is ludicrous to begin with (NBI already found it to be baseless last year). Having said that, one has to ask, why is the DOJ treating Ressa (still innocent until proven guilty and minor case) like she is public enemy #1 while the likes of Imelda Marcos (GUILTY of graft and corruption) doesn't even spend a single minute in jail? This is Ressa's 6th charge and she already spent more money for bail than Marcos who stole billions. Where are the priorities of the Duterte administration?

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Paniwalang paniwala ka sa mga palusot ni Panelo what you fail to see are the minor "inconveniences" given to Ressa. Now before you parrot Panelo and say that Ressa wants "special treatment", let me remind you that 1)libel is just a minor case and 2)the charge is ludicrous to begin with (NBI already found it to be baseless last year). Having said that, one has to ask, why is the DOJ treating Ressa (still innocent until proven guilty and minor case) like she is public enemy #1 while the likes of Imelda Marcos (GUILTY of graft and corruption) doesn't even spend a single minute in jail? This is Ressa's 6th charge and she already spent more money for bail than Marcos who stole billions. Where are the priorities of the Duterte administration?

 

Imelda was convicted of graft for setting up a non-profit foundation in Switzerland, which she's not allowed to do as a government official. Yun lang yun.

Where in the graft conviction did it ever say that she stole billions?

If she were convicted of stealing billions, she'd be in jail now. The case would not have been graft, but plunder, a non-bailable offense.

 

Did Ressa spend any time in jail? When?

 

Stick to facts.

 

Masyado kang emotional.

Edited by camiar
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Paniwalang paniwala ka sa mga palusot ni Panelo what you fail to see are the minor "inconveniences" given to Ressa. Now before you parrot Panelo and say that Ressa wants "special treatment", let me remind you that 1)libel is just a minor case and 2)the charge is ludicrous to begin with (NBI already found it to be baseless last year). Having said that, one has to ask, why is the DOJ treating Ressa (still innocent until proven guilty and minor case) like she is public enemy #1 while the likes of Imelda Marcos (GUILTY of graft and corruption) doesn't even spend a single minute in jail? This is Ressa's 6th charge and she already spent more money for bail than Marcos who stole billions. Where are the priorities of the Duterte administration?

Point out the lame excuse of Panelo. I don't expect you to do that because I don't think you can point out that alleged lame excuse. Libel is a minor case but it gets you in jail so, yeah, it is really minor. How is the charge ludicrous? Show how is it ludicrous because as it is, this is just your warped opinion.

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Imelda was convicted of graft for setting up a non-profit foundation in Switzerland, which she's not allowed to do as a government official. Yun lang yun.

Where in the graft conviction did it ever say that she stole billions?

If she were convicted of stealing billions, she'd be in jail now. The case would not have been graft, but plunder, a non-bailable offense.

 

Did Ressa spend any time in jail? When?

 

Stick to facts.

 

Masyado kang emotional.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/imelda-marcos-convicted-graft-sentenced-prison-n934356

 

 

"The special anti-graft Sandiganbayan court sentenced Marcos, 89, to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law when she illegally funneled about $200 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s as Metropolitan Manila governor."

 

 

Tungkol naman dun kay Ressa, I never said she was jailed. She was, however, kept in detention for a night because of what i call "subtle harassment" by the administration. They served the warrant in a way that she would not be able to post bail until the courts opened the next morning.

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As usual, another warped opinion. Pag tinanong at nacorner, tiklop na naman. :lol:

 

 

Yeah well my "warped opinion" is shared with notable, distinguished and well respected individuals and organizations all over the world - something you cannot say about yours and Panelo's opinion.

 

PS. hindi ako tumiklop. ayoko lang mag aksaya ng oras sa mga argumento mong walang kwenta.

Edited by juan t
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Yeah well my "warped opinion" is shared with notable, distinguished and well respected individuals and organizations all over the world - something you cannot say about yours and Panelo's opinion.

 

PS. hindi ako tumiklop. ayoko lang mag aksaya ng oras sa mga argumento mong walang kwenta.

Distinguished people who don't have a clue of what is really happening to Ressa. Not one of those imbecilic quotes from your "distinguished people" ever mentioned that Ressa was charged with cyber libel and due process was practiced. When asked to point out the lame excuse of Panelo, you can't show anything because you are obviously clueless on what Panelo was saying.

 

People who really know what is happening to Ressa would see that your moronic posts hold no water. Hindi dahil walang kwenta mga argumento ko. Hindi mo lang talaga masagot kasi wala kang alam sa nangyayari. Madali kang tumiklop. I don't even have to think to discredit your fatuous posts.

Edited by will robie
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Paniwalang paniwala ka sa mga palusot ni Panelo what you fail to see are the minor "inconveniences" given to Ressa. Now before you parrot Panelo and say that Ressa wants "special treatment", let me remind you that 1)libel is just a minor case and 2)the charge is ludicrous to begin with (NBI already found it to be baseless last year). Having said that, one has to ask, why is the DOJ treating Ressa (still innocent until proven guilty and minor case) like she is public enemy #1 while the likes of Imelda Marcos (GUILTY of graft and corruption) doesn't even spend a single minute in jail? This is Ressa's 6th charge and she already spent more money for bail than Marcos who stole billions. Where are the priorities of the Duterte administration?

 

dyusku naman JT Cybercrime (cyber libel ) na yung kaso hindi simple Libel case at napaka simple ng problema ni Ressa... if she made the bail walang arrest na nangyari!

 

so ngayon sisigaw sya ng harrassment!

Edited by darksoulriver
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/imelda-marcos-convicted-graft-sentenced-prison-n934356

 

 

"The special anti-graft Sandiganbayan court sentenced Marcos, 89, to serve 6 to 11 years in prison for each of the seven counts of violating an anti-corruption law when she illegally funneled about $200 million to Swiss foundations in the 1970s as Metropolitan Manila governor."

 

 

Tungkol naman dun kay Ressa, I never said she was jailed. She was, however, kept in detention for a night because of what i call "subtle harassment" by the administration. They served the warrant in a way that she would not be able to post bail until the courts opened the next morning.

As for Imelda's graft conviction, did she steal the $200 Million? Obviously not, because if she did, she would have been in jail now for plunder.

As for Ressa, she was not jailed as you would have wanted Imelda to be. She was detained. Boo hoo! So sad.

As Panelo said, blame the lawyers. They have been informed in advance to prepare bail.

Ressa deliberately ignored it so that she will be detained. She wants to portray to the public that she, the accused, is the victim while the complainant is portrayed as the persecutor..

Edited by camiar
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As for Imelda's graft conviction, did she steal the $200 Million? Obviously not, because if she did, she would have been in jail now for plunder.

As for Ressa, she was not jailed as you would have wanted Imelda to be. She was detained. Boo hoo! So sad.

As Panelo said, blame the lawyers. They have been informed in advance to prepare bail.

Ressa deliberately ignored it so that she will be detained. She wants to portray to the public that she, the accused, is the victim while the complainant is portrayed as the persecutor..

 

 

 

Nanjan na nga nakasulat sa article "she illegally funnelled $200 million to Swiss foundations..." todo deny pa. As to why she is not in jail well, if you havent noticed by now, in the Philippines, people who are rich and powerful DO NOT go to jail, and if they do, it is only temporary.

 

But anyways, you are missing my point. I am not here to disscuss Imelda's crimes but rather compare them and her treatment to that of Ressas. You have 1 person CONVICTED of graft involving billions of pesos vs another person charged (still innocent until proven guilty) with mere cyberlibel. Yet who is the one being crucified?

 

What makes you think they were informed in advance to prepare bail? Nag iimbento ka nanaman ba ng istorya ulit? Sige nga.. Paano sila na inform? Sino nag inform sa kanila?

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dyusku naman JT Cybercrime (cyber libel ) na yung kaso hindi simple Libel case at napaka simple ng problema ni Ressa... if she made the bail walang arrest na nangyari!

 

so ngayon sisigaw sya ng harrassment!

 

 

Paano ka nga mag ppost ng bail kung yung warrant ay sinerve after the courts have closed tapos wala pang kasamang bail amount. Style nga ng admin yan para makasigurado that Ressa spends the night in detention. Style yan para mang harrass.

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Distinguished people who don't have a clue of what is really happening to Ressa. Not one of those imbecilic quotes from your "distinguished people" ever mentioned that Ressa was charged with cyber libel and due process was practiced. When asked to point out the lame excuse of Panelo, you can't show anything because you are obviously clueless on what Panelo was saying.

 

People who really know what is happening to Ressa would see that your moronic posts hold no water. Hindi dahil walang kwenta mga argumento ko. Hindi mo lang talaga masagot kasi wala kang alam sa nangyayari. Madali kang tumiklop. I don't even have to think to discredit your fatuous posts.

 

What makes you think that the distinguished people i quoted have no clue what is happening? These guys are smart and credible and they didn't get their status by making uninformed comments.

 

And besides, if there is someone who is a position to say that they are clueless and uninformed, it should be someone who is equally credible - NOT someone who gets his news from WE ARE COLLECTIVE and RIGOBERTO TIGLAO :lol:

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Nanjan na nga nakasulat sa article "she illegally funnelled $200 million to Swiss foundations..." todo deny pa. As to why she is not in jail well, if you havent noticed by now, in the Philippines, people who are rich and powerful DO NOT go to jail, and if they do, it is only temporary.

 

 

Masyado kang emotional.

 

Pati si Imelda, isasali mo pa sa kaso ni Ressa. Para kang si TK. Walang logic ang mga banat.

 

The act of funneling the $200 Million to the Swiss foundation was illegal because as a government official, she is not allowed to do that.

 

But the $200 Million was not stolen. If they had proven that she stole it, she'd be in jail for plunder. She's not in jail, right?

 

Gamit lang ng konting logic pag may time, ok?

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Masyado kang emotional.

 

Pati si Imelda, isasali mo pa sa kaso ni Ressa. Para kang si TK. Walang logic ang mga banat.

 

The act of funneling the $200 Million to the Swiss foundation was illegal because as a government official, she is not allowed to do that.

 

But the $200 Million was not stolen. If they had proven that she stole it, she'd be in jail for plunder. She's not in jail, right?

 

Gamit lang ng konting logic pag may time, ok?

 

 

Para kang tanga. Sinabi ko na nga hindi ko point i-discuss yung kaso ni Imelda eh. Pilit pang ibinabalik. Ang point ko lang ulit, para sa mga hindi marunong magbasa kagaya mo, is to compare the gravity of her offense to Ressas and how they babied Imelda vs harrassed Ressa.

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What makes you think that the distinguished people i quoted have no clue what is happening? These guys are smart and credible and they didn't get their status by making uninformed comments.

 

And besides, if there is someone who is a position to say that they are clueless and uninformed, it should be someone who is equally credible - NOT someone who gets his news from WE ARE COLLECTIVE and RIGOBERTO TIGLAO :lol:

 

Are you implying that you know Madeleine Albright so well that you find her more credible than Rigoberto Tiglao?

 

Rigoberto Tiglao:

  • Graduated from UP and Ateneo
  • Political prisoner during Martial Law
  • Co-founder of Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
  • Past President of Foreign Correspondents' Association of the Philippines (FOCAP)
  • Former Ambassador to Greece and Cyprus
  • Best News Reporter by the Catholic Mass Media Awards
  • Best Economic Journalist for Asia in 1991
  • Ten Outstanding Young Men for Print Journalism, 1992
  • Reporter/Correspondent/Columnist/Editor: Business Day, Manila Chronicle, Daily Inquirer, Far East Economic Review, The Manila Times
  • Author of several books in Economics and Politics based on his Investigative Journalism Works.

Between Madeleine and Rigoberto, I'll choose him as more credible on Philippine affairs.

 

Here is Rigoberto Tiglao's post on how Ressa's employers put up PhP 30 MIllion for her legal defense:

 

https://www.rigobertotiglao.com/

 

Partly, Tiglao wrote:

 

" DON’T fall for the Yellows and US media’s portrayal of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa as a poor, helpless journalist being persecuted by the powerful state apparatus of the Philippine government.

As an American citizen, she is protected by the most powerful nation on earth. Its embassy indeed issued a statement right after her arrest that said that it hopes “her case will be resolved quickly in accordance with relevant Philippine law and international standards of due process.”

But Ressa is being protected not just by her government. Pierre Omidyar, one of the US’ richest men, and founder of eBay (with its subsidiary Paypal) and now also a Hawaii and California property tycoon, will be paying for Ressa’s lawyers.

The shadowy tycoon’s Omidyar Network and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) which he funds “have set up a $500,000 legal defense fund for Ressa,” according to a two-part investigative article in mintpressnews.com, a website that has gained a reputation as an independent news outfit with formidable research skills (Read the article here: https://www.mintpressnews.com/ebay-founder-pierre-omidyar-is-funding-a-global-media-information-war/255199/).

It was also Omidyar Network which, together with North Base Media, that saved Rappler from going under in 2015 when the two entities invested P100 million into the firm, which had been nearly abandoned by its initial funders...."

"...(One of North Base Media’s founders, Sasa Vucinic, is believed to have been involved in the destabilization of Yugoslavia that led to its disintegration in 1992. Three years after, Vucinic set up the Media Development Investment Fund with seed money from billionaire George Soros, who has been well-documented to have an appetite for regime change in countries that break away from US vassalage.)"

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Are you implying that you know Madeleine Albright so well that you find her more credible than Rigoberto Tiglao?

 

Rigoberto Tiglao:

  • Graduated from UP and Ateneo
  • Political prisoner during Martial Law
  • Co-founder of Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
  • Past President of Foreign Correspondents' Association of the Philippines (FOCAP)
  • Former Ambassador to Greece and Cyprus
  • Best News Reporter by the Catholic Mass Media Awards
  • Best Economic Journalist for Asia in 1991
  • Ten Outstanding Young Men for Print Journalism, 1992
  • Reporter/Correspondent/Columnist/Editor: Business Day, Manila Chronicle, Daily Inquirer, Far East Economic Review, The Manila Times
  • Author of several books in Economics and Politics based on his Investigative Journalism Works.

Between Madeleine and Rigoberto, I'll choose him as more credible on Philippine affairs.

 

Here is Rigoberto Tiglao's post on how Ressa's employers put up PhP 30 MIllion for her legal defense:

 

https://www.rigobertotiglao.com/

 

Partly, Tiglao wrote:

 

" DON’T fall for the Yellows and US media’s portrayal of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa as a poor, helpless journalist being persecuted by the powerful state apparatus of the Philippine government.

As an American citizen, she is protected by the most powerful nation on earth. Its embassy indeed issued a statement right after her arrest that said that it hopes “her case will be resolved quickly in accordance with relevant Philippine law and international standards of due process.”

But Ressa is being protected not just by her government. Pierre Omidyar, one of the US’ richest men, and founder of eBay (with its subsidiary Paypal) and now also a Hawaii and California property tycoon, will be paying for Ressa’s lawyers.

The shadowy tycoon’s Omidyar Network and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) which he funds “have set up a $500,000 legal defense fund for Ressa,” according to a two-part investigative article in mintpressnews.com, a website that has gained a reputation as an independent news outfit with formidable research skills (Read the article here: https://www.mintpressnews.com/ebay-founder-pierre-omidyar-is-funding-a-global-media-information-war/255199/).

It was also Omidyar Network which, together with North Base Media, that saved Rappler from going under in 2015 when the two entities invested P100 million into the firm, which had been nearly abandoned by its initial funders...."

"...(One of North Base Media’s founders, Sasa Vucinic, is believed to have been involved in the destabilization of Yugoslavia that led to its disintegration in 1992. Three years after, Vucinic set up the Media Development Investment Fund with seed money from billionaire George Soros, who has been well-documented to have an appetite for regime change in countries that break away from US vassalage.)"

 

 

I dont give a s@%t about Tiglao's credentials. He is obviously biased and that makes him NOT credible.

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Para kang tanga. Sinabi ko na nga hindi ko point i-discuss yung kaso ni Imelda eh. Pilit pang ibinabalik. Ang point ko lang ulit, para sa mga hindi marunong magbasa kagaya mo, is to compare the gravity of her offense to Ressas and how they babied Imelda vs harrassed Ressa.

Bakit mo kasi ipinipilit isali si Imelda?

 

Pareho ba silang journalist?

 

Naging First Lady o Government Official ba si Maria Ressa?

 

Wala silang kinalaman sa isa't isa.

 

Sino ngayon ang tanga sa pag-sali kay Imelda sa usapan kahit walang sense? Ikaw, di ba?

 

Sino ang tanga na nag-akalang ninakaw yung $200 million na inilagay sa Swiss foundation? Ikaw, di ba?

Edited by camiar
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I dont give a s@%t about Tiglao's credentials. He is obviously biased and that makes him NOT credible.

That post is not for you.

 

It is for the other readers to know how imbecilic it is to trust Madeleine Albright just because her name is famous, and reject somebody who has first hand knowledge of our country's political and economic issues just because he has anti American views.

 

It is for other readers who would read the links I posted to provide them with informed opinion.

Edited by camiar
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What makes you think that the distinguished people i quoted have no clue what is happening? These guys are smart and credible and they didn't get their status by making uninformed comments.

 

They are smart and credible because you said so? Haha! Hilarious. Again, if they were really smart and credible, why didn't any one of them mention that Ressa has a cyber libel case?

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And besides, if there is someone who is a position to say that they are clueless and uninformed, it should be someone who is equally credible - NOT someone who gets his news from WE ARE COLLECTIVE and RIGOBERTO TIGLAO

Haha! Before debunking Tiglao, check out his columns and tell me what column he lied in. Of course, you can't do that because all you've been posting are ad hominems and shallow posts of support from your "distinguished people" who won't be able to do anything if Ressa lands in the slammer. So tell me, how am I uninformed? I don't expect you to answer this because you can't back it up with posts that I posted or any factual data. Between you and me, you are the one looking so clueless, just like your other three yellow brethren. :lol:

Edited by will robie
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This is one of Tiglao's articles explaining how Maria Ressa has been selling her services to the US interest groups and to the yellow oligarchs that lead to her troubles now:

 

It's an eye-opener on who Maria Ressa really is:

 

The truth about Ressa and her vilification of Duterte

https://www.rigobertotiglao.com/2019/02/21/the-truth-about-ressa-and-her-vilification-of-duterte/

IF not for Maria Ressa and Rappler’s vilification campaign against President Duterte and the Philippines, and her success in getting foreign media entities to portray her as a heroine of press freedom, her journalism career would have crashed years ago.

Ressa is therefore unlikely to give up her portrayal of herself as a victim of the suppression of the press in a country which she says has a media that have been cowed.

In the description of her in Rappler and in other foreign award-giving sites, she is portrayed as a distinguished journalist who was given more than seven awards by international media outfits, including one as Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.”

This were all given only in 2018 after Ressa, with the help of Yellow forces, managed to portray internationally as instances of Duterte’s alleged authoritarianism the actions of two state agencies in upholding our rule of law.

First, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s ruled that it had violated the constitutional ban on foreign money in media. And second, the National Bureau of Investigation decided to pursue a private citizens’ libel charge against Ressa.

That is, in just a year of her efforts in portraying the Philippines as under authoritarian rule, Ressa got at least seven awards and international acclaim (or sympathy). In contrast, she couldn’t get a single such award in her 16 years with CNN.

(The Wikipedia entry on Ressa reports that she received an Overseas Press Club Award for Best Documentary and the National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism, presumably before 2018. The two awards’ websites though do not report her receiving such honors.)

Three elephants
I had admired Ressa for her audacity in going into broadcast media which, especially in the US, has three elephants in their news studios, which would have quickly trampled her.

First is its bias against non-whites. Second is the bias for staff whose physical features conform to Anglo-Saxon notions of beauty. And third is the bias against women. A cursory research makes this point obvious. CNN has about 200 anchors and correspondents. How many are black females? Two. How many of Asian descent? Three. How many aren’t Anglo-Saxon lookers? None.

This is not my opinion but the result of numerous scholarly studies on US media and its biases. US media outfits’ rush to defend Ressa, I suspect, is an instance of their hypocrisy and their collective guilt for their bigotry.

Ressa managed to stay long at CNN because a major concern of US and its media minions had emerged: The outbreak of Islamic terrorism in the Philippines and in Indonesia. CNN exploited her: Ressa’s looks and her family links in the two countries (one parent is Indonesian, I was told, but cannot confirm) made it easy for her to access sources among terrorists and government.

Despite her coverage though, the three elephants in CNN’s news studios eventually got to kick her out. I was told that she was given that “resign or be fired” kind of message by CNN early in 2003, when she was Jakarta bureau chief. And she thought she could be CNN’s next Cristiane Amanpour, her career idol. Did you notice that CNN as an institution didn’t issue a statement in support of its former staff?

Resign or be fired
ABS-CBN recruited her in 2004 to head its news division, the idea of its president then, a purportedly marketing genius, Freddie Garcia, who argued that Ressa would give the oligarch-owned station the “CNN sheen” of excellence. Chairman Gabby Lopez was said to have been delighted that he would be seen as the Philippines’ Ted Turner.

Ressa though proved to be a big headache for Lopez, insiders in the network reported. (See for instance https://www.thedailysentry.net/2018/10/a-scandalous-mess-that-maria-ressa-of.html?m=1)

Did you notice that neither ABS-CBN, nor its media bigwigs like its president Charo Santos, Luchie Cruz-Valdez, Karen Davila and Charie Villa have spoken a word in defense of their former colleague, a “kabaro” at that? Yellow leader Mar Roxas – if not for his wife Korina Sanchez – would have raised a howl over Ressa’s “persecution,” but didn’t.

All these women despised Ressa, for various reasons, and bugged Lopez to fire her. Many in the network, even Lopez’s conservative relatives, were allegedly also scandalized over Ressa’s open lesbian relationship with Lilibeth Frondoso — married but separated — who became some kind of power in the network because of her closeness to the controversial news head. Gabby’s mestizo executives and friends incessantly asked him: “Are you really comfortable with Ressa being the face of ABS-CBN?”

Gabby Lopez, I was told by insiders, got the excuse to give Ressa the “resign-or-be-fired” message when he got undeniable proof that she was moonlighting, that is, giving interviews, for a fee, on Philippine developments with CNN and other US media outfits (whom she would later tap to raise a howl against the libel charge against her). Her services to ABS-CBN was exclusive, according to her contract.

End of career
That would have been the end of Ressa’s career in broadcast media. The Philippine broadcast industry is a small, gossipy world, and no other media enterprise — even Manuel Pangilinan’s new Channel 5 to whom she sent feelers to join — would take her in. Al-Jazeera, which had been pirating CNN broadcasters, was run by British executives and had the same three elephants of bigotry in their studies.

While her work in covering terrorists in the Philippines and Indonesia got her to be a consultant in academic and intelligence institutions in the US, her expertise in Islamic jihad became gradually doubted because of her exaggeration of the extent of the network of the Islamist jihadists in Southeast Asia, and her conclusion that these were all directed by al-Qaeda.

For instance, in her 2012 book Seeds of Terror: An Eyewitness Account of Al-Qaeda’s Newest Center,” Ressa claimed that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) was really a part of al-Qaeda, and that its Camp Abubakr was a sprawling training camp for the Bin Laden terrorist group.

She even stridently criticized former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for undertaking peace talks with the insurgent groups, and even reported claims that her military sold arms to the MILF. In a self-serving way since she had covered two countries in the region that had Muslim terrorists, Ressa’s thesis was that Southeast Asia — because Indonesia had the biggest Muslim population while the Philippines was weak in fighting terrorists — would be the center of Islamic jihad in the world.

Obviously, subsequent events — the peace agreement with the MILF and the decline of al-Qaeda as well as Bin Laden’s killing — made Ressa’s expertise passé, if not inaccurate. The US and the West’s main concern became the rise of the Islamic State, which was far, far beyond Ressa’s world of Southeast Asian jihadists. Her narrow field of expertise in journalism, Islamic jihad in Southeast Asia, became useless.

Devastating
That would have been the end of Ressa’s journalistic career which would have been devastating for her immense ego which, going by accounts of those who have worked with her, compensated for her diminutive size and looks.

She found a new career when the Benigno Aquino 3rd camp, after he assumed power in 2010, had the brilliant idea of setting up a news website, in order to control the emerging world of social media, and to form a tag team with the Philippine Daily Inquirer the Yellows had their thumbs on.

The plan became urgent when Aquino decided to undertake the unprecedented project of removing the Chief Justice, Renato Corona. It was his clan’s last-resort move to control the Supreme Court so it would rule that the agrarian-reform compensation for his clan’s Hacienda Luisita would be P10 billion, not the P200 million the Agrarian Reform department calculated it should be.

Rappler officially went online Jan. 1, 2012 a few days before Corona’s impeachment trial started, with even its first major story — symbolically? — a false one that claimed that the Chief Justice cheated to get his PhD, which is still posted by the website.

As my colleague Yen Makabenta wrote yesterday: “Rappler served as cheerleader for every sordid turn in the impeachment trial up to the very end; it said nothing when the prosecution was caught manufacturing evidence, and when Aquino was exposed in his bribery of the senator-jurors.”

Vicious, false articles
Rappler competed in posting having vicious, false articles that demonized Corona with the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

It was in fact Rappler’s enthusiasm in vilifying Corona to justify its existence to its Yellow overlords that got it into trouble

It reported in May 2012 that Corona was using an SUV owned by a Filipino businessmen involved in “human trafficking and drug smuggling.” Of course, that angered the businessmen so much he has pursued a libel case against Rappler.

Ressa has cried to the world that it was just Duterte wanting to suppress Rappler.

Because of its huge technology expenses to build a big audience in cyberspace and its above-industry salaries for Ressa and his gang, Rappler got to the brink of bankruptcy, especially when the Yellows lost power in 2016. The Yellows had difficulties bankrolling it either covertly or overtly such as through contracts with the tourism department. (Because of its success in portraying Duterte as an authoritarian though, Rappler appears to have been recently infused with new Yellow money: Its two new board directors were with Cory Aquino’s high officials, Solita Monsod and Fulgencio Factoran.)

An American, Ressa tapped his contacts with the help of Yellow supporters in New York, and got two US outfits, Omidyar Network and North Base Media to invest P100 million in the website to save it from going under.

SEC ruling
An American, Ressa probably had never read the Philippine Constitution with its ban on foreigners in media, or she had such a culture of impunity that she thought she could ignore the laws of this puny nation. The Securities and Exchange Commission ruled that indeed Rappler was in violation of the Constitution and must be dissolved.

Ressa panicked and claimed first, that the foreign money was donated to its managers. When that proved impossible (the managers told her they can’t pay for the taxes for such gifts), she claimed that the investments were in the form of securities, the kind PLDT and ABS-CBN use to go around the constitutional ban on foreign money in media.

Oops! The Bureau of Internal Revenue read about her explanation, studied it for months, and ruled that Rappler’s issuance of securities generated capital gains, which therefore must be taxed. Rappler evaded such payment of P133 million in taxes, the BIR concluded. The Justice department had to agree with the BIR and filed a tax evasion case against Ressa and her executives.

Ressa cried to the world that she is being persecuted. Ressa has vilified her country of birth for her egoistic ambitions.

American media are automatically biased against a Third World leader who doesn’t pay obeisance to the US, and after all this puny country is not that important to fact-check the lies a fellow American tells them.

Edited by camiar
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