MANILA, Philippines — Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo shrugged off yesterday the Person of the Year award conferred by Time magazine on Rappler’s Maria Ressa for her role in the protection of press freedom amid attacks from President Duterte. But Ressa has been saying the charges against her and her media company are politically motivated as they did not do anything irregular. “Now, with respect to the awardee Ressa, that’s the call of the awarding organization. “Whether we agree or not, it doesn’t matter, that’s the award of a particular organization,” Panelo added. On Twitter, Ressa thanked Time for naming her as one of the “guardians” of press freedom or for standing up for the truth in the face of persecution and violence.

Source: Philippine Star December 12, 2018 16:28 UTC