Yahoo TV

STORY: The ruling against Rappler, handed down by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday (June 28), comes at a time when activists and journalists fear there will be no let up in challenges to press freedom under the presidency of Ferdinand Marcos who begins his term on Thursday (June 30).

"We will continue to do our jobs. Our reporters will continue to hold the line, will continue to report, and will continue to demand that access is there," Ressa told a media briefing, in which she described the SEC decision as "intimidation".

The SEC on Tuesday affirmed its 2018 ruling rescinding the operating licence of Rappler for violating foreign equity restrictions on domestic media when it sold depositary rights to a foreign entity.

Ressa shared the 2021 Peace Prize with Russian investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov, a move widely seen as intended as an endorsement of free speech rights under fire worldwide.

Ressa is currently on bail after being convicted in 2020 for cyber libel in one of several cases against the website filed by government agencies.

The Philippines ranked 147 out of 180 countries in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, and the Committee to Protect Journalists ranks the Philippines seventh in the world in its 2021 impunity index, which tracks deaths of media members whose killers go free.

The government denies hounding media and says any problems organizations face are legal, not political. It says it believes in free speech.

Duterte's spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.