Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s government yesterday rejected calls to halt the potential closure a news Web site that has been reporting on his deadly drug war, with media watchdogs raising fears over eroding freedoms.
The country’s corporate regulator on Monday revoked the incorporation papers for Rappler, accusing the online portal of ceding control to foreign investors in an industry exclusively reserved for Filipinos.
Rappler, founded in 2012, has produced reports critical of Duterte’s government, including its centerpiece drug war that has claimed thousands of lives and which has drawn criticism of alleged extrajudicial killings.
Duterte vowed last year to expose Rappler’s “American ownership,” while suggesting the US Central Intelligence Agency funded the outfit.
The government doubled down on the ruling yesterday, with the Philippine Department of Justice saying it was studying whether Rappler should now be prosecuted.
“If a law has been violated, then we will file the necessary charges,” Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said.
MAKING THE SWITCH
Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said the president “found it unfair” for Rappler to accuse him of threatening media freedom, adding he had “nothing to do” with the verdict.
“If the president wanted to do that he could just have sent the armed forces to their offices and padlocked them, which has been done by other regimes. The president has never done that,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, Philippine lower house lawmakers yesterday began discussions on possible changes to the 30-year-old constitution, with the aim of shifting to a system of federal government and allowing the president up to two terms in office.
The switch to a federal system was one of the key planks of Duterte’s election campaign, aimed to remedy what he saw as neglect by a Manila-centric political establishment that has left provinces in perpetual poverty.
Duterte’s allies, who dominate the nearly 300-member house, want a constitution that broadly aims to expand both legislative chambers, lengthen lawmakers’ terms, give provinces more fiscal autonomy, have a prime minister as head of government and a separately elected president.
The tentative plan is to agree and draft the amendments late this year and hold a referendum in May next year.
House Committee on Constitutional Amendments Chairperson Roger Mercado said lower house representatives were on track to vote and approve a resolution this week that would convene both chambers of Congress into a constitutional assembly.
Senators are opposed to combining the two chambers to draft the amendments, which would make the normally powerful 24-seat upper house less relevant in the process.
The push to change the constitution has been a divisive issue, with critics accusing lawmakers of trying to prolong their stay in office, or of creating a way for Duterte to stay in power beyond the end of his term in 2022.
Duterte has made clear he has no desire to stay longer than his term and, if anything, would prefer to retire earlier.
Lawmakers have yet to decide on what federal model to adopt, Mercado said.
Duterte’s preference is for one similar to that of France.
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