Chief Executive Officer Maria Ressa did not see this coming.
As of late more than 54,000 signatures were gathered asking the Department of Justice(DOJ) to
revoke the dual citizenship of Maria Ressa in the light of the different cases she
is currently facing in the country.
Ressa is a citizen of the United States and the Philippines.
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| Rappler CEO Maria Ressa (photo credit to owner) |
The signatures were gathered using the online petition platform from the California-based website www.change .org.
In light of this development, another case is added for Ressa to contend
with, other charges she is facing are the tax evasion and cyber libel cases.
DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra was quoted by reporters that he will look
into the petition, noting that a dual citizenship may be revoked under existing
Philippine laws.
“Subject to further study, any grant of dual citizenship is revocable on
grounds specified by our laws such as fraud and misrepresentation,” Guevarra
said.
It was a certain Mr. Rene Astudillo, himself a holder of dual citizenship
that of the United States of America and the Philippines. Last Sunday it has
already gathered 40,000 signatures from netizens.
Currently, it nearing 60,000 signatures from netizens.
Mr. Astudillo accuses Ressa of violating the conditions of her dual
citizenship by violating laws in the country as alleged in the criminal cases
against her.
“When
Ressa took her oath of allegiance as part of the dual citizenship process, she
swore to support and defend the Constitution of the Republic of the
Philippines, obey the laws and legal orders promulgated by the duly constituted
authorities of the Philippines and to recognize and accept the supreme
authority of the Philippines by maintaining true faith and allegiance thereto,”
read the petition.
The
petition further alleges that Ressa “has been engaged in efforts to destabilize
the Philippine government, and by extension, the Filipino people, claiming that
her press freedom is being suppressed and that she is a victim of political
harassment.
“Ressa is
facing legal troubles because of alleged violation of the Constitution, tax
evasion, and the Cyber Libel law which are all in defiance of her oath of
allegiance as a dual citizen.”
The
petitioner( Mr. Astudillo) asked the
department to order the Bureau of Immigration, an attached agency, “to conduct
a formal review of Ms. Ressa’s activities which violate this oath.
“If
warranted, we urge that her dual citizenship under Republic Act No. 9225 be
revoked.”
Just in
case you would like to sign the petition, just click the line below:
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Report from Manila Standard
1 Comments
Jimmy Pedro
ReplyDeleteRapler Maria Ressa is fallen is fallen and become the habitation of demons and devil, and the hold if every foul spirits, and the cage of every unclean and hateful birds. You know why? Because Rapler Maria Ressa made all the filipino people to drink of the wine of the wrath of her poisoning vices of information, by her manipulative and slandering styles of making headlines, Rapler Maria Ressa had been constantly dragging the filipino people into poverty until she was kicked out from Philippines.