Statement of Partido Liberal President Sen. Francis Pangilinan

On the Rappler closure order

Marcos resorted to legalism with the issuance of thousands of presidential decrees, executive orders and proclamations to justify his oppressive, corrupt and tyrannical rule.

In the context of the relentless attacks on our institutions and on the stifling of dissent as seen in the following namely:

1) the arrest and detention of Senator de Lima on outrageous testimonies of convicted criminals,

2) the CHR P1000 peso budget slash by the House of Representatives,

3) the killing of over 14,000 of our impoverished citizens in a drug war while billions of pesos of shabu was allowed to be smuggled into the country by officials in cahoots with drug syndicates,

4) the threat of impeachment of the Ombudsman

5) the impeachment hearings against CJ Sereno

6) the attacks on the Inquirer and ABS CBN Broadcasting corporation by the government;

In view of all of the above, the SEC ruling is unacceptable legalism to justify its closure of Rappler. Marcos the lawyer resorted to legalism to justify his trampling of our people's civil and political rights, so did the lawyer-commissioners of the SEC.

What we do or fail to do will either enable or help defeat impunity.