Palace: Rappler must fix ownership issues for media accreditation

MANILA, Philippines — Rappler cannot cover Palace events until it fixes its ownership issues, Malacañang said Tuesday.

 

Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said Rappler reporter Pia Ranada has lost her accreditation to cover Malacañang because of the Securities and Exchange Commission decision revoking the news website's business registration. 

 

"There was already an SEC decision revoking their license. The accreditation of Pia is from that particular accreditation so she loses her accreditation in effect," Medialdea told reporters in a chance interview. 

 

Asked if Rappler can still cover Malacañang, Medialdea shook his head and said: "Ayusin muna nila ang kanilang (They should fix first their) personality as a corporation, local corporation, otherwise they cannot." 

 

"That's the gist of the decision of SEC," he added. 

 

The SEC in January released a decision finding Rappler had violated constitutional limits on foreign ownership of media by accepting investments through Philippine Depository Receipts. Although other companies, including some in the media industry, have PDRs, the SEC said Rappler's PDRs with Omidyar Network gave foreign investors "negative control" over company decisions.

 

Rappler has disputed this and has brought the case to the Court of Appeals.

 

SEC spokesman Armand Pan said in a Rappler report on January 16 that the media firm "can exhaust legal remedies," including going to the CA.

 

"Meanwhile, SEC decision is not final and executory," he said then. 

 

 

Medialdea said President Rodrigo Duterte was just complying with the decision of the corporate regulator. 

 

"No, he was just following. The decision of the SEC is executory," Medialdea said when asked whether the president ordered the barring of Ranada from Palace events. 

 

Medialdea said Rappler can always seek accreditation from the Foreign Correspondents' Association of the Philippines. 

 

The SEC investigation into alleged foreign ownership in Rappler was prompted by a letter from Solicitor General Jose Calida. President Duterte himself accused Rappler of having American owners during his State of the Nation Address in July 2017.

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