FILE PHOTO: Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa back at Rappler office in Pasig City after her arrest by NBI officers on February 13, 2019, and posting bail before the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46. INQUIRER/LYN RILLON
MANILA, Philippines — Rappler and its co-founder Maira Ressa on Wednesday lauded their acquittal from tax evasion cases as a “triumph of facts over politics.”
The digital-only news site maintained that the charges lodged against the company and Ressa were “fraudulent, false, and flimsy” as they “do not have any basis in fact.”
The Philippine Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) has acquitted Ressa and Rappler Holdings Corp. (RHC) of four counts of tax evasion. Its First Division ruled in favor of the accused as the prosecution failed to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
“We thank the court for this just decision and for recognizing that the fraudulent, false, and flimsy charges made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) do not have any basis in fact,” Rappler said in a statement posted on its social media page. “An adverse decision would have far-reaching repercussions on both the press and the capital markets.”
READ: Rappler, Maria Ressa acquitted of tax evasion charge
Rappler asserted that the BIR during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte was “politicized” and that it “deliberately ignored evidence” refuting accusations that Rappler failed to pay proper taxes.
To recall, the Department of Justice under Duterte filed tax evasion cases against Rappler and Ressa before the CTA and the Pasig City Regional Trial Court.
READ: DOJ files tax evasion charges against Rappler and its president
“This is brazen harassment and abuse of power. How many more companies, businesses, and even private individuals have been subjected to this kind of harassment and unethical conduct of government officials and agencies?” Rappler said in the same statement.
It also hailed the CTA for seeing through the “shenanigans” and for delivering a just and fair decision.
“Maria Ressa and RHC may have won today. But so did the ordinary taxpayer and businessmen being unjustly harassed by the BIR,” Rappler said.
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