Rappler not Filipino-owned and violated law, court rules 0
BY JOMAR CANLAS, TMT ON JULY 27, 2018 TOP STORIES
Twitter
The Court of Appeals (CA) on Thursday ruled that Rappler is not fully Filipino-owned and has violated the 1987 Constitution.
A 72-page decision of the CA Special 12th Division, a copy of which was obtained by The Manila Times, dated July 26, 2018, affirmed findings of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that comment on a petition filed by online news website Rappler.
The CA junked the petition, finding no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the SEC.
“It bears stressing that the foreign equity restriction on mass media implies ‘zero’ foreign control. It thus includes any appearance of control that will influence the corporate actions and decisions of Rappler,” the ruling stated.
“Also, it does not matter whether the approval from Omidyar is required only when the actions taken by Rappler will prejudice the rights of Omidyar, because RHC will still nonetheless be required to secure the approval of at least 2/3 of the PDR Holders before Rappler can carry out or implement any action which has the effect of altering, modifying or otherwise changing Rappler’s Articles of Incorporation or By Laws,” it said.
The ruling was penned by Justice Rafael Antonio Santos and was concurred in by Justices Apolinario Brussels Jr. and Germano Francisco Legaspi.
The CA ruled that there was no denial of administrative due process with the SEC since notice and hearing was afforded to Rappler.
“Accordingly, the court rules that in the present case, a substantial compliance with the requirements of due process was observed by the SEC,” it said.
The SEC had revoked the certificate of incorporation of Rappler Inc. and Rappler Holdings Corp. allegedly for violating the Constitution and foreign-equity restrictions in mass media which is supposed to be 100 percent Filipino-owned.