MANILA – Rappler CEO Maria Ressa was found guilty of cyber libel over a 2012 article that linked a businessman to alleged illegal activities.
The Manila Regional Trial Court Branch-46 found Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos, Jr. guilty of cyber libel on Monday and sentenced them to six months and one day to up to six years in jail.
Both were posting bail as of posting time.
The court likewise ordered Ressa and Santos “jointly and severally” to pay businessman Wilfredo Keng, the private complainant, P200,000 in moral damages and P200,000 in exemplary damages.
Meanwhile, Rappler, as company, was declared to have no liability by the court.
Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa handed down the ruling after less than a year of trial. The promulgation of judgment was initially scheduled for April.
“There is no curtailment of the right to freedom of speech and of the press,” the judge said in the ruling.
“Each person, journalist or not has that constitutionally guaranteed right to freely express, write and make known his opinion. But with the highest ideals in mind what society expects is a responsible free press. It is in acting responsibly that freedom is given its true meaning,” she 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 and Ressa also face separate charges for alleged tax evasion and violation of the anti-dummy law, cases that the veteran journalist has called acts of harassment against the news site.
