The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered the revocation of online news site Rappler’s license to operate.
In a 29-page decision dated January 11, the SEC ruled that Rappler, Inc. and its controlling shareholder Rappler Holdings Corp. were “liable for violating the constitutional and statutory Foreign Equity Restrictions in Mass Media enforceable through rules and laws within the mandate of the Commission.”
The online media outfit has been accused of purportedly using “deception” to circumvent a provision in the Philippine Constitution, which mandates 100 percent Filipino ownership of mass media.
Citing Rappler as the “mass media entity that sold control to foreigners,” the SEC ruling, which was served to Rappler on Friday, decided to revoke the online news company’s certificate of incorporation.
Likewise stripped of its certificate of registration was Rappler’s 98.77-percent stockholder, Rappler Holdings Corp., which the SEC said was “existing for no other purpose than to effect deceptive scheme to circumvent the Constitution.”
The decision was signed by SEC Teresita Herbosa and three SEC Commissioners: Antonieta Ibe, Ephyo Luis Amatong, and Emilio Aquino. Another Commissioner, Blas James Viterbo, did not take part, in the decision-making.