NPC reiterates call for COMELEC to rescind deal with Rappler

THE National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC), has reiterated its call for the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to rescind, and not just suspend, its memorandum of agreement with online news site, Rappler, related to its coverage and fact-checking of the May 9, 2022 elections.

“The Filipino people has spoken and the result is that Rappler remains the least trusted news outfit in the country.

“This should be sufficient basis for the COMELEC to rescind its MOA with Rappler if it wants its claim that it has decided to partner with Rappler and other media organizations to promote the credibility of the coming elections,” said NPC President Paul M. Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was referring to the result of the ‘Pahayag’ first quarter survey of Publicus Asia conducted between March 30 and April 6, 2022 on the trustworthiness of the country’s news organizations that include Rappler.

“Compared to the last two quarter survey of Publicus Asia in July and December 2021, the results showed a continuing deterioration of Rappler’s credibility as a media organization and we wonder how this has escaped the attention of the COMELEC when it proceeded to partner with Rappler last February 24, 2022 despite its glaring, dismal record,” Gutierrez added.

In the Pahayag survey of Publicus Asia taken from July 13 to July 19, 2021, Rappler registered a “low” trust rating of 37.6 percent, the biggest in the field of 16 news organizations surveyed.

“And it only gets worse from there,” Gutierrez pointed out, noting that in the survey held between December 6 to December 10, 2021, Rappler’s distrust rating shot up to 42.4 percent and now, to 43.5 percent, in the survey of March 30 to April 6, 2022.

“If the COMELEC wants to increase the public’s trust over its conduct related to the coming elections, it can now easily remove one area of public suspicion by announcing it is rescinding its MOA with Rappler and not wait for the Supreme Court to order it to do so,” Gutierrez added.

The day the MOA between Rappler and the COMELEC was signed, the NPC sent a letter to the COMELEC protesting the agreement.

“While we respect the COMELEC’s right to partner with anyone in order to ensure that the coming political exercise is ‘clean, credible, honest and transparent,’ we believe that your choice of Rappler as a ‘valuable partner’ in the dissemination of ‘truthful information’ is a contradiction that is unacceptable to most Filipinos,” the NPC said in its letter.

“We are registering our protest because just like most Filipinos and just like you, we too, would want to see and experience a clean, credible, honest and transparent election the result of which may well decide the country’s future in the coming years.

“But your choice of Rappler, certainly, is a step in the wrong direction,” the NPC added.

Aside from pointing out that Rappler has a “spotty record” when it comes to the reporting of news, the NPC also pointed out that the company is a “foreign-funded media outfit, contrary to what is provided for in our Constitution.”

Last March 7, 2022, the Office of the Solicitor General seconded the NPC’s position by filing a case before the Supreme Court, in its capacity as ‘Tribune of the People.’

The OSG called for the scrapping of the MOA between Rappler and the COMELEC and for the issuance by high court of a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent the COMELEC from implementing the MOA.

The OSG’s action forced the poll body to temporarily suspend the MOA, pending the result of the petition.

But Gutierrez said the latest Publicus survey should be sufficient for the COMELEC to announce it is scrapping its MOA with Rappler.

“One simple announcement in this regard should be enough to lessen the legal burdens the COMELEC is now facing before the Supreme Court,” Gutierrez said. “Ano pa ba ang hinihintay ninyo,” he added.

Last March 23, 2022, the NPC, together with the Guardians’ Brotherhood and Automated Election System (AES) Watch, went to the Supreme Court and filed a mandamus for the court to compel the COMELEC to ensure that it would comply with all the requirements provided for by law to make the election transparent and credible (see also Pinoy Expose article of March 28, 2022).