Published January 19, 2018 4:32pm
By KATHRINA CHARMAINE ALVAREZ, GMA News
Opposition Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Friday slammed officials of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over its “unacceptable legalism” in revoking the incorporation papers of news website Rappler.
Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party (LP), compared such legalism to that of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
“Marcos resorted to legalism with the issuance of thousands of presidential decrees, executive orders and proclamations to justify his oppressive, corrupt and tyrannical rule,” Pangilinan said.
“The SEC ruling is unacceptable legalism to justify its closure of Rappler. Marcos the lawyer resorted to legalism to justify his trampling of our people's civil and political rights, so did the lawyer-commissioners of the SEC,” he added.
“What we do or fail to do will either enable or help defeat impunity,” Pangilinan further said.
In a January 11 decision, the SEC revoked the certificate of incorporation of Rappler Inc. for supposedly violating the foreign ownership restrictions on mass media companies after welcoming the Omidyar Network as one of its investors through Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs).
Rappler CEO Maria Ressa then hit back at the SEC, saying the corporate regulator's decision was due to "political pressure."
The SEC defended its decision, challenging Rappler to back up its allegation.
“You know, if they have proof that that's the case, they better present it. It's so unfair to us. We're only doing our job and you know, without fear or favor, we just come out with whatever the law would require us to do,” SEC chair Teresita Herbosa said.
President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said his office “never had a hand” in the SEC’s decision on Rappler. — RSJ, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/640299/kiko-hits-sec-execs-over-unacceptable-legalism-on-rappler-decision/story/?utm_source=GMANews&utm_medium=Facebook&utm_campaign=news
No comments:
Post a Comment