MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine appeals court reversed a regulator's 2018 order to shut down a prominent news outlet in a decision made public Friday, marking a legal victory for journalists who angered former President Rodrigo Duterte by reporting critically on his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs and alarming human rights record.
The Court of Appeals ordered the Securities and Exchange Commission to restore the certificates of incorporation of Rappler, an online news outfit founded by 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner Maria Ressa, in a decision issued July 23.
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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine appeals court reversed a regulator's 2018 order to shut down a prominent news outlet in a decision made public Friday, marking a legal victory for journalists who angered former President Rodrigo Duterte by reporting critically on his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs and alarming human rights record.
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, displays documents showing the court's decision, with her lawyer Francis Lim seated beside her at a press conference at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, speaks to the media, with her lawyer Francis Lim seated beside her at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, speaks to the media at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
FILE -Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa gestures during an interview at a restaurant in Taguig city, Philippines, Oct. 9, 2021. T (AP Photo/Aaron Favila), File)
It wasn't immediately clear if the SEC will appeal the ruling.
“It’s a vindication,” Rappler said in a statement. “It’s a fact that the Duterte government used the SEC order to unleash its power to further harass us, our employees, our stakeholders and our communities.”
Rappler said it’s still facing two other legal cases: a cyber-libel conviction that Ressa is appealing to the Supreme Court and a case pending in another Philippine court in which the outlet is accused of violating the “Anti-Dummy Law,” which prohibits Philippines nationals from acting as proxies for noncitizens to evade legal requirements.
Rappler has continued to operate during its legal fight, despite the closure order.
Rappler was accused of violating a constitutional ban on foreign investments in local media agencies when it received funds through financial papers called Philippine depository receipts in 2015 from the Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization backed by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. The government alleged that the funding gave Omidyar some control over Rappler.
Rappler denied Omidyar wielded any control over it through the financial receipts, which Omidyar later donated to the online outfit's employees.
The court ruled that the 2018 shutdown order, one of several legal issues that Ressa and Rappler faced under Duterte, was made “with grave abuse of discretion, contravening established procedures, jurisprudential and legal instructions, and clear intent of the constitution."
Duterte and other Philippine officials have said the criminal complaints against Ressa and Rappler, which included tax lawsuits, were not a press freedom issue but part of normal judicial procedures.
But Duterte was known for openly lambasting journalists and news agencies that critically reported about his deadly campaign against illegal drugs, including the country’s largest TV network, ABS-CNS. ABS-CNS was shut down in 2020 after Duterte-allied lawmakers refused to renew its license.
The Philippines has long been regarded as one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the world.
In 2009, members of a powerful political clan and their associates gunned down 58 people, including 32 media workers, in a brazen attack in southern Maguindanao province. It was the deadliest single attack on journalists in recent history.
While the mass killing was later linked to a violent electoral rivalry, it also showcased the threats faced by journalists in the Philippines. A surfeit of unlicensed guns and private armies controlled by powerful clans, and a lack of law enforcement in rural areas are among the security concerns journalists face in the poverty-stricken Southeast Asian nation.
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, greets the gathering at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, displays documents showing the court's decision, with her lawyer Francis Lim seated beside her at a press conference at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, speaks to the media, with her lawyer Francis Lim seated beside her at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
Maria Ressa, 2021 Nobel peace prize co-winner and founder of Rappler, an online news outfit, speaks to the media at the Rappler office in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Aug. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Joeal Calupitan)
FILE -Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa gestures during an interview at a restaurant in Taguig city, Philippines, Oct. 9, 2021. T (AP Photo/Aaron Favila), File)
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper homered twice, Cal Stevenson hit a two-run, go-ahead double in the seventh and made a run-saving, highlight-reel catch in the eighth and the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies rallied to cool off the New York Mets with a 6-4 victory on Saturday.
J.T. Realmuto added an RBI double for the Phillies, who have won 10 of 13 and lead the Mets by eight games in the division. The teams will wrap up the three-game series on Sunday afternoon before the Mets host the Phillies for four games Sept. 19-22.
“Really good team win today,” Harper said. “It's a big win. That's a good team over there, and they're playing well.”
Starling Marte singled, tripled and drove in three runs and Luisangel Acuña had a pair of singles in his major-league debut for the Mets, who lost for just the third time in the last 15 games. New York began play Saturday holding the final wild card spot in the National League, one game ahead of the Braves.
With his team down 4-0, Harper launched the first of his two drives off starter Luis Severino with one out in the fourth, a 397-foot opposite-field drive off an 85-mph changeup. He pulled Philadelphia within 4-3 in the sixth with a two-run shot off an 87-mph slider that came on a 3-2 count. The two-time NL MVP, who hadn't homered since Aug. 9, has 28 home runs on the year.
“It felt like a playoff atmosphere, felt like a big situation,” Harper said. “I love that.”
Philadelphia went ahead in the seventh. Danny Young (4-1) surrendered a pair of singles to Bryson Stott and Realmuto to start the frame, with both advancing on Brandon Marsh’s sacrifice bunt. Young slammed his glove and hat into the bench in New York’s dugout in frustration after being lifted by manager Carlos Mendoza for Reed Garrett.
Garrett struck out pinch-hitter Weston Wilson before Stevenson clubbed a 3-2, 92-mph cutter to the wall in right to score Stott and Realmuto.
“Just a huge at-bat by him,” Harper said.
Jeff Hoffman pitched a scoreless eighth, and Carlos Estévez finished it in the ninth for his 26th save in 31 chances and sixth in eight tries since joining the Phillies prior to the trade deadline.
Hoffman got some help from Stevenson in center field when he robbed J.D. Martinez of a home run with a leaping catch at the wall for the first out of the eighth.
Orion Kerkering (5-2) worked a 1-2-3 seventh after Taijuan Walker tossed three scoreless innings in relief of starter Kolby Allard.
New York gave Severino a four-run cushion. Marte worked a bases-loaded walk in the first before hitting a two-run triple off Allard in the Mets’ three-run third inning to continue his success against Philadelphia. Marte is batting .375 in his career against the Phillies.
Allard, the fourth different No. 5 starter used in as many trips through the rotation, lasted just three innings, surrendering three earned runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Walker, whom the Phillies signed to a four-year, $72 million free-agent deal prior to the 2023 season, excelled in his new role after getting demoted to the bullpen due to ineffectiveness as a starter.
“He's a great teammate,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said of Walker. “He's handled this like a pro.”
Walker was happy to contribute in a positive way.
“It feels good,” he said. “I feel like I haven't done a good job of helping the team this year. Today was the best I felt all year."
Acuña recorded his first hit with a single to center field off Walker leading off the fourth and started the ninth with a single to center off Estévez. Acuña, a younger brother of Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr., is one of the organization’s top prospects. He hit .258 with 40 steals while splitting time among second base, shortstop and center field with Triple-A Syracuse.
“Good to see him fight and get us going in the ninth,” Mendoza said. “I thought he was good.”
Acuña, 22, started at shortstop and batted ninth. He came over when the Mets traded Max Scherzer to Texas in July 2023. Acuña was promoted one day after All-Star shortstop Francisco Lindor left Friday night’s 11-3 victory against the Phillies in the seventh inning because of lower back soreness. Mendoza said the move was precautionary following the game and made the decision to give Lindor another day of rest and recovery.
Severino gave up three runs on six hits with five strikeouts and a walk in six innings. The 30-year-old right-hander made two All-Star teams with the Yankees before signing a one-year, $13 million deal in the offseason with the Mets after struggling to an injury-plagued season and 6.65 ERA in 2023.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Phillies: 3B Alec Bohm (left hand strain) and INF Edmundo Sosa (back spasms) played for Triple-A Lehigh Valley in rehab assignments on Saturday. ... Harper winced while batting in the eighth, flexing his right arm. He recently told MLB.com that he was playing with a sore wrist and sore right elbow.
Mets: Marte was drilled on the left forearm by a 95-mph sinker from Hoffman in the eighth but stayed in the game.
UP NEXT
Mets LHP David Peterson (9-2, 2.98) opposes Philadelphia LHP Cristopher Sánchez (10-9, 3.33) in the finale of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon.
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New York Mets' Mark Vientos, left, scores past Philadelphia Phillies' J.T. Realmuto, right, during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
New York Mets' Jose Iglesias, left, scores after Philadelphia Phillies' Kolby Allard, right, walked Mets' Starling Marte with the bases loaded during the first inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
New York Mets' Brandon Nimmo, right, high-fives Francisco Alvarez (4) after scoring during the third inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Philadelphia Phillies' Cal Stevenson reacts after hitting a two-run double off New York Mets' Reed Garrett during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Philadelphia Phillies' Cal Stevenson, right, watches his two-run double off New York Mets' Reed Garrett during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper, right, watches his two-run home run off New York Mets' Luis Severino during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper reacts after hitting a two-run home run off New York Mets' Luis Severino during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)
