The Court of Appeals (CA) Special 7th Division of Philippines on Friday decided that the revocation order issued by the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Filipino news website Rappler was illegal, ordering the SEC to restore the certificate of Incorporation of Rappler, Inc. and Rappler Holdings Corporation.

The court declared the SEC’s previous order to shutdown Rappler was made “with grave abuse of discretion, contravening established procedures, jurisprudential and legal instructions, and clear intent of the constitution.” The court also dedicated the last seven pages of its 48-page decision to freedom of the press, with Rappler calling the ruling “a vindication after a tortuous eight years of harassment.” Rappler’s lead counsel Francis Lim stated:

I have been looking at things objectively from the start. I had no doubt in my mind that this day would come. We thank the Court of Appeals for the decision that has tremendous impact on the ability of our corporates to raise capital and more importantly, on the freedom of the press and our democracy.

In a statement released on Friday, Rappler pointed out that the CA decision eliminated a long-standing threat to its corporate existence on account of a flawed ruling by the SEC. Rappler stated, “When the rule of law prevails, justice is served.”

Rappler was founded by 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa along with a group of fellow Filipino journalists and technopreneurs. According to Irene Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression, Rappler’s coverage included regular scrutiny of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s self-proclaimed “war on drugs” relating to the widespread and systematic killing of thousands of alleged drug suspects.

In 2018, the Philippine government advanced a constitutional complaint against Rappler and the SEC revoked the company’s operating license in January. On June 28, 2022, the SEC affirmed the 2018 decision to revoke Rappler’s certificates of incorporation, which confirmed its shutdown. Rappler asserted that it was being targeted for the revelations of corruption by government and elected officials and its reports about Duterte’s deadly anti-drug campaign. Phelim Kine, the deputy director at Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, also criticized the case as “a sinister use of state regulatory processes to stifle critical media voices.”

This is not the only case against the freedom of the press in the country. In February 2020, Rodrigo Duterte’s government moved to strip ABS-CBN, the Philippines’ largest media group, of its franchise, which was criticized as the worst yet in a series of attacks on press freedom by the authorities.