MALACAÑANG disputes the country’s new ranking in the World Press Freedom Index (WFI) of the Reporters Without Borders, which dropped by two notches.
From 133rd in 2018 and 134th in 2019, the country is now136th in terms press freedom.
“We dispute also the ranking because Reporters Without Borders considered as an affront to press freedom the Rappler issue which, we know, was decided by the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), whose members are not appointed by President Duterte,” Roque said.
The SEC revoked the registration of the news website in 2018 due to its alleged violation of the foreign equity restriction.
Roque also questioned the inclusion of the case of ABS CBN Corporation after the House of Representatives rejected its application to renew its franchise due to the alleged irregularities in its operations.
“We also dispute that these two issues should have not led to the decline in our ranking.” Roque said.
But even with the lowered ranking, Roque said the country is still among the countries with the highest rankings in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ahead of Myanmar, Cambodia, Brunei, Singapore, Laos and Vietnam.
“Although this is the lowest ranking during the term of President Duterte, this is equivalent to the highest ranking during the time of President Noynoy Aquino,” Roque said.
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