Maria Ressa is supposedly incensed by a protest activity instigated by activist Mark Lopez who visited the office building of Rappler to express outrage over her global campaign to vilify the government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (watch video on Twitter and on Facebook).
Ressa claims that online trolls paid for and directed by the government are under “marching orders” to harass her. Lopez begs to differ…
Lopez, in a Facebook Live video, said he made the visit with his friend Jovybev Aquino in order to “express our outrage” at Ressa’s statement.
“We can’t take that tweet. Di namin kinaya ‘yan. Malaking sampal po iyan sa amin, sa atin dahil ‘yung sinasabi po d’yan eh tayo daw na mga trolls lang na tumatanggap lang ng marching orders from somebody else. So we’re here to prove to Ms. Ressa that we are not trolls, that we are here to express our outrage,” he said.
Lopez also carried a poster which read: “As a Filipino, I am going to hold Maria Ressa and Rappler accountable for destroying the image of my country.”
It is interesting to note that a similar protest action was done by Yellowtard “activist” Carlos Celdran back in 2010. Celdran at the time and until now is lauded by the Yellowtard community for his stunt which involved barging into a gathering of Catholic clergy people and holding up a placard with the name “Damaso” written on it.
Ressa’s response to Lopez’s protest action today is an example of the selective manner with which the Yellowtards apply their nebulous “principles”.
Ressa who apparently has close personal ties with Facebook executives and is in a cosy “fact checking” arrangement with the company is seemingly pulling strings to silence Lopez and her other critics on the planet’s dominant social media platform. Following his protest activity at the Rappler offices, Lopez’s Facebook account was suspended but later reinstated after he reportedly appealed to Facebook’s Singapore regional head office.