“Many are protesting its partnership with Rappler.”
Last Thursday, the Commission on Elections signed a memorandum of agreement with Rappler in what it described as part of its effort to fight disinformation and promote voter awareness during the election season.
Ironically, that’s where the problem starts. Because from where I sit, I see Rappler at the core of a group of media sowing biased information and reporting for this year’s election coverage, thereby favoring a particular candidate. Just read Rappler’s reportage of the election campaign and you can clearly see how biased it is against Partido Federal ng Pilipinas standard bearer, former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. whom they fondly refer to as the son of a dictator in its news articles. Not to mention the slant of their story.
But this is not the first time Rappler had shown its biases to favor a particular group, specifically the Yellows, now repackaged as the Pinklaw.
In its coverage of the impeachment trial of the late Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, it unjustly accused a businessman of lending his sports utility vehicle to the former, resulting in the outfit’s chief executive officer, Maria Ressa’s conviction for cyber libel.
Also, its ownership is being questioned, having been established it had been receiving foreign funding.
This particular aspect, Kilusang Bagong Lipunan senatorial candidate lawyer Larry Gadon, is reason enough for the Comelec not to enter into an agreement with Rappler for election-related matters.
“Rappler is a foreign-funded and capitalized entity in the guise of donation, so, therefore, it is barred from participating in our electoral process,” says Gadon, who is also a media practitioner himself being one of the anchors of the radio program Karambola.
Gadon says the Comelec is according an undue recognition to Rappler whose legal existence has violated Philippine corporate laws.
“You are legitimizing an illegitimate entity and a media outfit which is a bearer of fake news and obviously a machinery of propaganda,” he stressed.
National Press Club president, Paul Gutierrez also expressed dismay over the Comelec’s decision to enter into an agreement with Rappler.
In his letter addressed to Comelec Acting Chairperson Socorro Inting, said that while the NPC respects the Comelec’s right to partner with anyone in order to ensure that the coming political exercise is “clean, credible, honest and transparent,” the country’s leading press organization believe that the poll body’s choice of Rappler as a “valuable partner” in the dissemination of “truthful information” is a contradiction that is unacceptable to most Filipinos.
“It is an established fact that Rappler has a spotty record when it comes to the dissemination of ‘truthful information’ considering its record of gross bias in its reportage that resulted in its current legal woes. We are sure that you are familiar with them by this time,” Gutierrez stated in his letter as he reminded Comelec “that most of Rappler’s current legal woes arise first, from its being a foreign-funded media outfit, contrary to what is provided for in our Constitution.”
Gutierrez added Ressa has been convicted of criminal libel by a Manila court for biased reporting, a fact that cannot be obscured by the many ‘awards’ given to her by foreign-based media organizations.
“We can go on and on citing reasons why we object to your MOA with Rappler. But our central message is, the credibility of the coming election that we all aspire for is not enhanced by your choice,” said Gutierrez in his letter.
“We are registering our protest because just like most Filipinos and just like you, we too, would want to see and experience a clean, credible, honest and transparent election the result of which may well decide the country’s future in the coming years. But your choice of Rappler, certainly, is a step in the wrong direction,” the NPC president stressed.
Like Gutierrez, this writer believes, albeit sadly, that the decision of the Comelec to partner with Rappler is the poll body’s judgment call, although it cannot be too late to rectify this “error.”
As Gutierrez aptly puts it, the MOA between Comelec and Rappler “does not have the unanimous or majority support of the members of the Philippine press nor of the majority of self-respecting Filipinos.”