The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday, March 15, asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to comment on the petition filed by government lawyers to stop the implementation of the poll body’s memorandum of agreement (MOA) with news outfit Rappler on the provision of “fact-checking, poll-related content production, and voter awareness promotion during the election season.”
Rappler was also directed to file its comment on the petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) as the “people’s lawyer.”
The comments sought from the Comelec and Rappler within 10 days from receipt of notice were both on the plea for a restraining order and on the petition itself.
The SC’s action on the OSG’s petition was confirmed to journalists by SC Spokesperson Brian Keith F. Hosaka.
In its petition, the OSG told the SC that the Comelec-Rappler MOA “is void for being violative of the Constitution and other laws, not to mention its being onerous to the Government and the Republic.”
The OSG had given the Comelec until last March 4 to rescind the MOA which the poll body signed with Rappler last Feb. 24.
If not rescinded, it said: “The OSG, as the People’s lawyer, may have to file the necessary case in court to declare the nullity of the MOA by 7 March 2022.”
When Comelec did not heed the advise, the OSG filed its petition with the SC.
However, then Acting Comelec Chairperson Socorro Inting had ordered a hold in the implementation of the Comelec-Rappler partnership.
Inting was quoted in the news reports as having said in a memorandum: “All actions in connection with the MOA shall be deferred, including coordination between the Commission and Rappler on matters of the MOA.”
In a summary of its petition filed with the SC, the OSG said:
“It is beyond belief that Comelec has allowed a foreign non-registered entity to interfere the conduct of the country's elections! The SEC had earlier revoked Rapper's Certificate of Incorporation. On appeal, the Court of Appeals (CA) did not issue any resolution which stayed or reversed the revocation. Even after the SEC reviewed a supposed supervening event after the CA remanded the case, the SEC maintained the revocation.
“The Solicitor General's petition avers that even if Rappler were treated as an existing corporation, it is a foreign mass media entity managed by an American citizen and whose operations are funded and/or controlled by foreign entities that include Omidyar Network Fund L.L.C.
“It is primarily based on this fact that the MOA violates the constitutional and statutory proscription against foreign interference in the country's elections, the OSG argues in its Petition. Rappler's interference pursuant to the MOA comes in various forms.
“Specifically, Comelec has essentially ‘co-shared’ with Rappler its power to decide on all questions affecting elections pursuant to Part I, Paragraph 1 (b) of the MOA. This is in clear usurpation of its sole power to decide on such questions under Section 2 (3), Article IX-C of the Constitution. Part I, Paragraph 5 of the MOA authorized Rappler to alert Comelec on any election-related posts in social media and with the sole discretion to determine what it deems ‘false, misleading and harmful information.’ Such power granted by Comelec in favor of Rappler clearly constitutes prior restraint on freedom of speech and of expression.
“The MOA likewise breeds unconstitutional incursion into an individual's right to privacy, as Rappler was granted access to key information and confidential data of registered voters absent any proper and narrowly focused safeguards on the retrieval, use, and storage of such data.
“Finally, Part Il paragraph 3 of the MOA grants to Rappler unqualified access to ‘data of untransmitted votes to all the canvassing centers due to lowering of threshold, and such other technical issues in the Automated Elections System,’ without any safeguards on how the Comelec or Rappler will protect the sanctity of the untransmitted votes.
“The endless possibility here is that Rappler may control any election narrative that suits the agenda of Rappler's foreign owners which will not be for the benefit of the Filipino people. The Comelec has wittingly lent credence to Rappler's story line about the Philippine elections due to Rapper's unbridled rights under the MOA.
“Collectively, these powers granted to Rappler constitute ‘taking part or influencing in any manner in any election’ within the prohibition set forth in Section 81, Article X of the Omnibus Election Code.”