President Spokesperson Harry Roque on Wednesday urged reporters of Rappler to reinvent themselves as bloggers instead.
Roque made the suggestion a day after the Security and Exchange Commission revoked the news site’s incorporation papers for alleged violation of the constitutional restriction on foreign ownership in mass media.
“No one has been prevented from exercising free speech, no one has been banned from performing their role as journalists,” Roque said.
Rappler editors could not be reached for comment, though its chief executive Maria Ressa said on Tuesday that they would fight Monday’s ruling, which takes effect after 15 days.
The SEC had ruled that Rappler violated a constitutional ban on foreign ownership of Philippine media when the news outfit gave veto powers to a foreign fund which had bought a placement of Philippine depositary receipts on Rappler shares in 2015.
Rappler said the investment did not constitute equity nor give the investors veto on editorial matters.
Also on Wednesday, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre told reporters government prosecutors were studying the possible filing of criminal charges against Rappler officials for violating the anti-dummy law, which prohibits the transfer of ownership of a business in a sector reserved for Filipinos to a foreigner. (With a report from Agence France-Presse)