Rigoberto Tiglao wrote an opinion article centering on US firms’ investment on Rappler’s.
TIGLAO – The Manila Times opinion journalist Rigoberto Tiglao pushes that the government should investigate the news website Rappler.
In his opinion article, Tiglao cited the Section 11 of the Constitution’s Article XVI which states that “the ownership of mass media shall be limited to citizens of the Philippines”.
According to him, it means that a media firm should not have funds from foreign investors. The said opinion writer asserted that the government led by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte should “investigate and prosecute” Rappler.
According to Tiglao, Rappler did not abide the Constitution as has a foreign money.
The journalist stressed in his article that million of foreign money were invested in Rappler although its principal owners is Benjamin Bitanga, a Filipino.
“The firm got a reported $2 million in investments in 2015 from US firms Omdiyar Network… and tech investment firm North Base Media,” he stated in his article.
Aside from the issue of foreign money on Rappler, the opinion writer also claimed that Rappler paints “falsely” that the Philippines, due to the anti-drug campaign of the President, is one in which dead bodies scatter on streets.
He stated in his article that it was the said news website who claimed that the number of the extra-judicial killings in the country reached 7,000 in count as of September 2016.
According to Tiglao, Rappler did not ask for apology and corrected their move.
The opinion writer also stated in his article that foreign media such as New York Times, the Guardian, and BBC treated the information from Rappler as factual details.
Based on the article, in 2015, foreign companies have invested in Rappler as admitted by the news website in an article published in February.
However, Rappler’s financial statements that was presented to the Securities and Exchange Commission did not entail that foreign firms invested in the news website.