Rappler on Court of Appeals ruling: SEC must review order

The Court of Appeals (CA) ruling is clear: the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should review its January 2018 revocation order against Rappler and reexamine the donation made by Omidyar of its shares to Rappler’s Filipino managers.

We quote from the CA decision of July 2018 and which the court reiterated in its February 21, 2019 verdict: “In view of the donation made by Omidyar of all the Omidyar PDR to the Rappler staff, the negative foreign control found objectionable by the SEC appears to have been permanently removed. This Court notes that the terms and conditions of the donation made by Omidyar was not discussed by petitioners in their Reply. Also, petitioners did not attach a copy of the document containing the alleged donation in their Reply.

“Thus, it is incumbent upon the SEC to evaluate the terms and conditions of said alleged supervening donation and its legal effect, particularly, whether the same has the effect of mitigating, if not curing, the violation it found petitioners to have committed. If so, this may warrant a re-examination of the sanction of revocation of petitioners’ Certificates of Incorporation imposed by the SEC En Banc in the assailed Decision.”

We let the decision speak for itself. We expect the SEC to now review its order and we continue to trust that the rule of law will be followed under a democratic government. (READ: FAQs: Rappler SEC case) – Rappler.com