Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa has lost her appeal against a conviction for cyber libel, her news website Rappler said Friday, in the latest blow for the veteran journalist.
Ressa and her former colleague Rey Santos Jr. face lengthy jail sentences, but the company said they will “avail of all legal remedies available to them,” including taking the case to the Supreme Court.
The ruling comes less than two weeks after authorities ordered Rappler to shut down ahead of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s last day in office.
Ressa, who is also a US citizen, is fighting at least seven court cases, including the cyber libel case, for which she has been on bail and faces up to six years in prison.
The Court of Appeals (CA) on Friday upheld the conviction of Ressa and Santos Jr. over a published story linking a businessman to criminal activities, Rappler confirmed.
The CA upheld the conviction handed by the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) in June 2020 involving the 2012 article published by Rappler linking businessman Wilfredo Keng to human trafficking and drug smuggling, citing an intelligence report.
“[Ressa and Santos] disagree with the decision and their legal counsels are currently reviewing the decision. Both will avail of all legal remedies available to them, including elevating the decision to the Supreme Court for review,” Rappler said in a statement.
Rappler also said the Supreme Court should also look at the legality of the cyber libel law and the continuing criminalization of libel, especially in light of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press.
“The decision weakens the ability of journalists to hold power to account. We call on our media colleagues, our community, and other advocates of a free and independent press to be vocal and vigilant now more than ever,” Rappler said.
“This is not just about Maria Ressa, Rey Santos Jr., or Rappler. What is ultimately at stake is our democracy whose strength rests on a media that is not threatened by the state nor intimidated by forces out to silence critical voices,” Rappler added.
Government prosecutors indicted Ressa, Santos, and Rappler for cyber libel in January 2019 over an article published by the news site in 2012 that cites an “intelligence report” linking Keng, a businessman, and the private complainant, to human trafficking and drug smuggling.
The Philippines’ anti-cyber-crime law would not be enacted until months after the article was published, but prosecutors alleged that a supposedly “republished” version of the story in February 2014 is covered by the law.
Rappler’s lawyers, the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), argued before the court that the “multiple republication” principle does not apply to online media.
They also said the change made to the story in 2014 was merely a “spelling correction.”
FLAG said both Ressa and Santos had “no participation” in the alleged republishing. The lawyers further argued that no evidence was shown to indicate that Rappler, Inc., a corporate entity, could be made liable under the charge.
In the 37-page ruling, however, the judge said the prosecution was able to establish the presence of all elements of cyber libel, including “actual malice,” as she found that the article was “republished with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”
Ressa has long been a vocal critic of Duterte and the deadly drug war he launched in 2016, triggering what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, probes, and online attacks against her and Rappler.
She and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last October for their efforts to “safeguard freedom of expression.”
Rappler, which faces eight cases, had to fight for survival as Duterte’s government accused it of violating a constitutional ban on foreign ownership in securing funding, as well as tax evasion.
Just days before Duterte left office, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Rappler to shut down for violating “constitutional and statutory restrictions on foreign ownership in mass media.”
Ressa vowed the company would continue to operate as they followed the legal process but expressed hope that the situation would improve under Duterte’s successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
