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Ramona Diaz on the Persecution of Maria Ressa
Since coming to power in 2016 (a bad year all around), Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has presented a portrait of brutal, undisguised authoritarianism that makes Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and even Viktor Orbán look like acoustic guitar-strumming liberal snowflakes.
Under the guise of a “war on drugs,” Duterte has engaged in a wanton campaign of extrajudicial murders that has terrorized the people of the Philippines; openly mused about enjoying committing rape; and above all, sought to crush freedom of the press in his country. In his sheer bluntness, Duterte even dwarfs a smoother — if no less homicidal — autocrat like Putin.
Duterte’s chief antagonist is an intrepid five foot two journalist named Maria Ressa. Ressa spent two decades as CNN’s lead investigative reporter in Southeast Asia, and was later head of the news division of the Philippine TV network ABS-CBN before founding the Manila-based online news site Rappler in 2012. In that capacity, she has been a constant thorn in Duterte’s side. By way of retaliation, he has revoked Rappler’s operating license, barred its reporters from the presidential palace, and had Maria arrested over and over again. Indeed, in a field with many strong contenders, there may be no more vicious mano a mano duel between despot and journalist than this one.
