YOU could call it karma. I would call it poetic
justice.
Unknown to
many, Maria Ressa and
Rappler's libelous article was part of the vicious hatchet job they did in 2012
against then-Chief Justice Renato Corona.
For that, Ressa (together with the poor guy that had the byline) was convicted
first by the Regional Trial
Court in 2020 and then the Court of Appeals the other day.
Ressa's
vilification campaign against Corona was intended to convince the public and
Congress that he was so corrupt that he had to be removed as chief justice, no
matter that this has never been done in the history of the Republic.
 |
| (photo credit to owner) |
President
If the Philippine Daily Inquirer and
the Philippine Star were their hatchet men in the print industry, ABS-CBN in
broadcast media, it was Rappler in the new social media, to make sure young
Filipinos believe that Corona must be removed, something that had never
happened before.
In fact, Rappler's "bombshell" on the
day of its launch was a colossal lie by its "editor at large" Marites Vitug,
that Corona cheated to get his PhD from the University of
Santo Tomas. The entire university was aghast at the calumny, and
explained in detail why the article was full of lies. They said that Corona
should be praised for aspiring for academic accomplishment despite his busy
schedule as chief justice. In response, the Inquirer and Rappler simply kept
quiet, and let their lies and embarrassment be forgotten with the passage of
time.
While the libel charge was filed by Chinese Filipino businessman
The target was obvious in the
piece's title: "CJ using SUVs of 'controversial' businessmen." What
the piece struggled to portray was that Corona was so corrupt he was close to,
and even was lent the SUVs of, a businessman with a "shady past." But
not just shady, Rappler claimed he was engaged in "human trafficking and
smuggling," and was involved in a murder case. Rappler's source?
"Surveillance by the National Security Council" — a giveaway that the
Aquino government was feeding fake data to it to demonize Corona. Or it could
have been from a past national security adviser with whom both Vitug and the
plotting law firm were close to.
32nd
richest
What the stupid Rappler staff
didn't bother to check was that while their government sources claimed Keng was
a criminal, he was actually a respected property and mining tycoon, listed 32nd
by Forbes on the list of the country's richest. If you were a tycoon, and a
media outlet even if only in cyberspace, called you a murderer, a trafficker
and a smuggler wouldn't you use your resources to file criminal charges against
it?
So much for Ressa's claim to the
world that she is God's gift to the Philippine press, upholding its highest
ideals. What Ressa did was what a most unprincipled, despicable thing a media
person would do, which is to accept a commission from the powers-that-be to
destroy someone's reputation.
Even with Rappler's obvious
boo-boo, and indicative of her arrogance, Ressa refused businessman Keng's
several requests to have the article deleted. In fact, even as the article has
been judged as a crime by the Regional Trial Court and now the Court of
Appeals, it is still posted on the Rappler website, Ressa's way of giving the
courts the dirty finger in defiance. You can read the libelous piece yourself,
now at https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/6061-cj-using-suvs-of-controversial-businessmen/.
After several failed attempts to convince Ressa to take down the article, Keng
decided to seek justice through the courts only in 2017 because, he said,
businessmen with whom he was seeking partnerships expressed doubts about him
because of the Rappler article.
Again another instance of poetic
justice. Ressa could have been right in her claim that since the article was
first posted on May 29, 2012, it could not be penalized under the Cybercrime
Prevention Law which was enacted only on Sept. 12, 2012. But then the judges
ruled that Rappler continued to post it after the effectivity of the law, which
meant that it was as if it was being published every day.
If Ressa were just a bit less
arrogant, she would not be facing the prospect of spending six years in prison.
Apparently, she had a sense of impunity since she had contracted two powerful
law firms to defend her, to which she reportedly paid P50 million in lawyers'
fees so far, and had US media supporting her. The US also had managed to
manipulate the Nobel committee to give her the prestigious peace prize —
apparently a buy-one-take-one deal as the award was shared with a Russian
journalist, a few months before Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Unscrupulous
Another indication of Ressa's unscrupulousness as
a journalist, Rappler used its media platform to raise doubts about Keng's
businesses, to bludgeon him into withdrawing the libel complaint. It posted
over a dozen articles insinuating that Keng's mining company was operating illegally,
that his Chinese partners were as shady as him.
But her worst crime goes beyond journalistic
ethics. To get out of the deep hole she herself had dug — she was also found
guilty of violating the Constitution for taking in foreign money — she portrayed
our country as a land ruled by a dictator, out to suppress press freedom. All
of us in the media who do not share her views are therefore portrayed as
unprincipled cowards.
The "dictator" has stepped down from
power, pulling the rug from under her argument of press suppression. The
appellate court not only affirmed the decision two years ago by the Regional
Trial Court. Finding Ressa and her associate's libel crime was so serious, the
court increased the penalty imposed on them from a minimum of six months to a
minimum of six years and eight months. It has been the rule of law that has
been operating,
Corona, the target of Rappler's libelous article,
was removed in May 2012. Just a few months later, it was uncovered that the
Aquino 3rd government gave P1.1 billion in additional pork barrel funds before,
during and after the trial to the 20 senators who voted to remove Corona, an
obvious form of bribery. (Ferdinand Marcos
Jr., with Joker Arroyo and Miriam Santiago,
were the only three senators to have voted to acquit Corona).
Corona died in April 2016 because of
complications from a heart attack. His friends believe he was so distraught
over the injustice and embarrassment he suffered, he simply lost the will to
live.
After 10 years, and from the grave, Corona exacts
justice on one of his persecutors.
The
Manila Times
July
11, 2022
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