FILE PHOTO: Filipino journalist and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa, one of 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners, poses for a portrait in Taguig City, Metro Manila, Philippines, October 9, 2021. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals (CA) has upheld the decision of a Manila court which found Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and Rappler former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. guilty of cyber libel.
The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 earlier convicted Ressa and Santos for cyber libel about a 2012 Rappler article written by Santos, which claimed that businessman Wilfredo Keng lent his sport utility vehicle to then Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Manila RTC Branch 46 Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa sentenced Ressa and Santos to serve six months and a day to six years in jail, but the CA lengthened their possible jail term to six months and a day up to six years, eight months and 20 days.
The fines amounting to P400,000 for moral and exemplary damages were maintained.
Ressa and Santos appealed the Manila court’s decision before the CA, but the appeal was denied.
The CA Fourth Division, composed of Associate Justices Roberto Quiroz, Ramon Bato and Germano Francsico Legaspi, signed the said ruling.
In a statement issued Friday, Rappler said it “disagrees with the decision and their legal counsels are currently reviewing [it]. Both will avail of all legal [remedies], including elevating the decision to the Supreme Court for review.”
It also renewed the call for the Supreme Court to “take a second look at the constitutionality of cyber libel and the continuing criminalization of libel, especially in light of the freedom of expression and freedom of the press.”
The online news organization asserted that the cyber libel conviction “weakens the ability of journalists to hold power to account.”
It further stressed: “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.”
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) affirmed its 2018 ruling to shut down the media outfit.