When civil watchdogs are under attack, the country’s freedom and democracy are unguarded.

FEU Advocate strongly condemns the continuous bullying by those in power and their pronounced desperation to suppress the truth from the public.

Last Wednesday, Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was arrested after office hours by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for a revived charge on a cyberlibel complaint by a businessman.

The said complaint was filed five years after the article was published and before the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 took effect. In 2017, the charge was already dropped by the same institution.

Ressa, a known critic of the Duterte administration, spent a night behind bars after the court available denied her bail. She may be out of detention as of February 14 but the alarming attacks against the Fourth Estate are still unsettled.

Unnerving as it is, this is not an isolated case for Ressa and other journalists in the country who experience the power play of the administration.

These red flags in the due process are clear manifestation of the current administration's defiance to the rule of law and disregard to the value of press freedom.

FEU Advocate stands with other media practitioners who are intrepid in performing their duty in informing the public amid the political harassments.

Once again, we call the current administration to respect and uphold the constitution and the democracy of the nation.

In this age of information, the press and the public are called to go hand in hand in protecting the freedom of expression.

To remain passive is to tolerate constitutional violations. To remain silent may cost us silence in the future.