Maria Ressa, Philippine journalist and Nobel laureate, acquitted of tax evasion

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By Editor_1
Rappler CEO and Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa gestures after a Manila court acquitted her from a tax evasion case, outside the Court of Tax Appeals in Quezon City, Philippines, on Wednesday (18) -Eloisa Lopez/Reuters
By Jason Gutierrez and Mike Ives

MANILA — Journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa was acquitted of tax evasion Wednesday (18), a rare victory after numerous setbacks in her fight to keep publishing her news site Rappler, whose run-ins with authorities have become emblematic of the Philippines’ declining press freedoms.

A Philippine court acquitted Ressa on all four charges against her. She would have faced a maximum sentence of 34 years if convicted. Rappler had also faced four charges and was acquitted.

Outside the courthouse in Manila, the capital, Ressa was visibly relieved and emotional after the verdict. Asked what it meant to her, she replied: “Hope. That is what it provides.

“We need independent media to hold power to account,” she added.

The case was the first high-profile test of whether the legal troubles facing Ressa and Rappler would continue under the Philippines’ new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has benefited from online disinformation and tried to play down the brutality of his father’s dictatorship decades ago. Advocates had urged Marcos to demonstrate his stated commitment to a free press by intervening in Ressa’s favour.

Authorities began taking action against Ressa and Rappler during the administration of Marcos’ predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, as the news organization was aggressively covering Duterte’s bloody campaign against drugs. That coverage helped Ressa win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

There are several other cases pending against Ressa, an outspoken critic of both presidents, and her news site. She is appealing her June 2020 conviction on a cyber libel charge, under which she could face six years in prison. The Philippines’ top court is expected to rule on that case soon.

It was not immediately clear Wednesday whether the verdict in the tax case would influence the government’s prosecution of the other cases, or the eventual verdicts. Rappler reported Wednesday that the verdict would likely affect a pending case in a regional court in Pasig City, where it said the facts in the case were “identical” to the charges that the Manila court threw out.

Chel Diokno, a well-known Filipino human rights lawyer and chair of the Free Legal Assistance Group, said he saw the verdict Wednesday as a good sign. “I hope that Maria’s other cases are decided with the same judicial independence and adherence to the rule of law,” he said.

Marcos, who took office in June with Duterte’s daughter Sara as vice president, has sent mixed signals about the extent to which he differs from his predecessor. He recently rejected a request from the International Criminal Court to resume its inquiry into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which left thousands of people dead.

But Marcos has also declined to attack the country’s mainstream media, as Duterte did, and he has generally taken a less disruptive approach to the presidency — for example, by drawing his country closer to the United States, the Philippines’ longtime military ally.

Marcos is in Davos, Switzerland, this week for the World Economic Forum. A conviction of Ressa in the Philippines would likely have exposed him to unwanted scrutiny.

In a recent letter to Marcos, a group of Nobel Peace Prize laureates implored him to “assist in bringing about a rapid resolution to the unjust charges against Maria Ressa and Rappler.”

“We hope to see the Philippines leave the mistakes of its past behind,” they wrote.

The tax evasion case was related to an investment into Rappler by Omidyar Network, which is owned by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. Authorities said the financing violated the restrictions on foreign ownership of domestic media. Rappler countered that Omidyar’s investment was not the same as owning shares, did not violate the law and did not give Omidyar Network control of its operations.

Rappler continued to publish while it fought its legal battles, and in 2018 the Omidyar Network donated its investment to Rappler employees, which the publication argued should have ended the government’s grievance. However, authorities then accused Rappler of owing taxes on that transaction.

In a statement, Rappler described the verdict Wednesday as “the triumph of facts over politics.” The news outlet said it did not believe the tax charges against Ressa had “any basis in fact.”

Glenda M. Gloria, Rappler’s executive editor, said in an interview that she saw the verdict as a significant victory for her organization, the Philippine media and businesses generally.

“It sends a good signal to the business community that the court of tax appeals sided with justice,” she said.

Ressa was convicted of cyber libel in connection with an article that Rappler published four months before the law under which she was charged took effect. An appeals court has said that the case should not be considered a press freedom issue, stressing that the law was “not geared towards the curtailment of speech.”

-New York Times

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