Philippine regulator revokes news site’s license over ownership rules, media outraged

By Neil Jerome Morales and Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) – The Philippine corporate regulator has rescinded the operating license of an online news platform that has been critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies, arguing it used a “deceptive scheme” to violate restrictions on foreign ownership rules. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday said news website Rappler ((www.rappler.com)) had violated foreign equity restrictions on domestic media because it “sold control to foreigners”, a decision Rappler said was baseless because its two foreign investors owned no shares in the company. SEC Secretary Armando Pan said the Jan. 11 decision announced on Monday was, however, “not final and executory”, and Rappler “may continue” to operate pending appeal.