(Eagle News)–The Palace on Saturday, March 30, slammed Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa anew, and accused her of wanting special treatment since she was a journalist.
“She wants her profession to shield her from accountability of a wrongdoing that she could be guilty of,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said after a US State Department spokesperson called on the Philippine government to allow Ressa to “operate freely.”
According to Panelo, Ressa “cannot forever hide behind the freedom of the press every time she commits what probably is a transgression of law as determined by the investigating prosecutor and the judge handling her case.”
He said “instead of fomenting disrespect to the constituted authorities and using her journalistic talent to spread her twisted and pretentious advocacy,” Ressa “should focus on her defense and be truthful on her present situation.”
In the first place, Panelo said due process was observed in her case.
He said the “fact alone that after she was criminally charged, a preliminary investigation was conducted, and after a finding of probable cause an information was filed in court, shows she was accorded her statutory right.”
He added “the circumstance that a warrant of arrest was issued against her after the presiding judge determined the existence of a probable cause following the process outlined by the Constitution shows that the rule of law was followed.”
“The very fact that she posted and granted bail for her temporary liberty demonstrates that the constitutional presumption of innocence has been observed,” he said.
According to Panelo, President Rodrigo Duterte had nothing to do with Ressa’s predicament as peddled by the journalist, saying the warrant of arrest from Branch 265 of the Pasig Regional Trial Court was issued against her “based on a finding of probable cause in connection with the Philippine Depositary Receipts Rappler issued to Omidyar Network Fund, LLC in 2015, a year before the assumption into office” of the President.
“All is equal before the law. It is no respecter of any social and political status. The law does not discriminate. Everyone subject of an arrest warrant must be given equal treatment as to its service,” he said.