MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Perhaps it’s President Rodrigo Duterte’s way of extending an olive branch. Malacañang has invited Rappler CEO Maria Ressa as a VIP guest at Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address.
Ressa, of course, is known to be one of the Administrations’s fiercest critics who has accused the government of weaponizing the law to curtail her Freedom of Speech. She faces criminal charges of tax evasion and cyber libel.
Malacañang sources told The Adobo Chronicles that the President will shake Ressa’s hand before he delivers his SONA.
The last time Duterte shook someone’s hand at his SONA, that someone —Senator Leila De Lima — was subsequently put in jail.