‘Too early for you to enjoy your awards’: Duterte says Maria Ressa is a ‘fraud’

By Prince Golez

President Rodrigo Duterte has accused Rappler CEO Maria Ressa of being a fraud and threatened to expose her.

“Si Ressa is a fraud, maniwala kayo. Give us time. Too early for you to enjoy ‘yung mga award-award mo. You are a fraud actually. Kaya we are just compiling at this stage. And someday in bold letters, we will show your incongruity. You are a fraud,” Duterte said in a televised speech aired early Wednesday.

The President warned that Ressa, a consistent critic of the administration, will get a taste of her own medicine “one of these days.”

“I have some folders in me given all throughout the years,” according to him.

“I am not threatening you. Go ahead and expose anything about corruption in this government. Sabi ko sa iyo kung malaki, mag-resign ako,” he added.

Earlier, Ressa and former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. were found guilty of cyber libel charges by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46.

The veteran journalist claimed their conviction was a “cautionary tale” for other media practitioners and was meant to crack down on dissent.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)