Duterte’s spokesman congratulates Philippine journalist Maria Ressa on Nobel Peace Prize

It was the first comment from the Philippine president’s office since the Rappler founder won the award on Friday

Spokesman Harry Roque also said some feel that Ressa ‘still has to clear her name before the courts’, referring to her multiple legal challenges

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Journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, one of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:00pm, 11 Oct 2021Updated: 5:31pm, 11 Oct 2021

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s office on Monday congratulated journalist Maria Ressa for winning the Nobel Peace Prize, calling it “a victory for a Filipina” for which it was happy to see.

Ressa, founder of Philippine news site Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov shared the 2021 prize after braving the wrath of the leaders of the Philippines and Russia to expose corruption and misrule.

Ressa has been fighting multiple legal challenges in courts related 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 spokesman Harry Roque told a regular news conference, responding to a question 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 said, in the first 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 US 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.