Philippines:
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte’s workplace on Monday congratulated journalist Maria Ressa for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, calling it “a victory for a Filipina” for which it was delighted to see.
Ressa, founder of Philippine news web-site Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 prize just after braving the wrath of the leaders of the Philippines and Russia to expose corruption and misrule.
Ressa has been fighting a number of legal challenges in courts connected to Rappler’s dogged investigative reporting of Duterte’s government, its bloody war on drugs, and its use of social media to target opponents.
“It is a victory for a Filipina and we are very happy for that,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque told a typical news conference, responding to a query on what the award meant for the government.
“Of course, it is true there are individuals who feel Maria Ressa still has to clear her name before the courts,” he mentioned, in the 1st comment on Friday’s award from Duterte’s camp.
The firebrand leader has described Rappler, launched in 2012, as a “fake news outlet and a tool of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which Ressa has dismissed as nonsense.
The Prize was hailed by many in the Philippines, with critics saying it is a rebuke on Duterte, a frequent critic of Rappler.
It was the first Nobel Peace Prize for the Philippines and the first for journalists since the German Carl von Ossietzky won it in 1935. The Kremlin congratulated Muratov on Friday, describing the investigative journalist as talented and brave.
Asked on Monday what her message would be to Duterte, Ressa urged him not to pursue a divide and conquer approach.
“I beg you, unite this nation. Don’t tear us apart,” she mentioned in an interview with news channel ANC.
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