Comelec to answer OSG petition to defend its partnership with Rappler (Sabong News)

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will answer the petition filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) before the Supreme Court (SC) to defend its forged memorandum of agreement (MOA) with news website Rappler. Acting Comelec Chairperson Socorro B. Inting said the MOA entered into by the poll body and Rappler underwent a review of their law department before it was formalized. “We cannot do anything but face the music, answer the petition and defend the MOA that we signed with Rappler,” she said during a press briefing on Monday, March 7. Inting said the Comelec will abide by the decision of the SC on the poll body’s partnership with Rappler. “We entered with an agreement with Rappler freely and voluntarily and it underwent review by the law department. And if the court finds the MOA to be infirmed then we cannot do anything, we have to respect the law, the decision of the court,” she added. In a statement released by Rappler, the news website said the MOA it forged with the poll body only seeks “to broaden voters’ access to truthful information and encourage them to do their part in ensuring an honest and transparent political exercise.” Rappler called the filed case of the OSG as “ironic”, saying as what it is doing is that it “runs counter to the office’s mandate to represent and lawyer for, not against government agencies such as Comelec.” “[W]e are confident our good justices recognize the value of independent institutions working together again for nothing less than an informed choice on May 9,” the news organization said. Recently, the Comelec asserted its independence as a constitutional body after it was asked by OSG to end its partnership with the news website. The poll body was even given until March 4 to cancel its partnership with Rappler or else the OSG “may have to file the necessary case in court to declare the nullity of the MOA by 7 March 2022.” On Feb. 24, Comelec inked a MOA with Rappler in a bid to fight disinformation and promote voter awareness during the election season. The partnership was first questioned by the National Press Club Ior NPC, saying the partnership is “unacceptable to most Filipinos.”