Manila court ruling on Rappler case out today

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A MANILA court is expected to come up with a decision today on the controversial cyber libel case filed against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and a former staff member of the online news outfit by businessman Wilfredo Keng.

Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa set the promulgation at 8:30 a.m.

The court earlier said only parties to the case and their counsel will be allowed inside the courtroom during the proceeding.

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“This is in line with the safety protocols of the Court, in view of the COVID situation,” Estacio-Montesa said.

Aside from Ressa, charged was Reynaldo Santos Jr. who wrote an article in May 2012 and published by Rappler saying Keng lent his sports utility vehicle to then Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The story also alleged that Keng was put under surveillance at one time by the National Security Council for his supposed involvement in human and drug trafficking.
Keng has denied the allegations.

Ressa and Santos entered not guilty pleas during their arraignment last year.
Both are out on bail amounting to P100,000.

The court finished the trial of the case in only eight months in what could be the quickest libel trial in the country in recent history.

The case has constitutional implications because it was filed beyond the one-year prescription period for libel.

The Department of Justice, in a resolution stretched the prescription from one year to 12 years, enabling the filing of the complaint against Ressa and Santos. The DOJ said it was able to sufficiently establish the elements of cyber libel in the case, namely allegation of a discreditable act or condition concerning another, publication of the charge, identity of the person defamed, and malice.

The court sided with the DOJ despite opposition by Ressa’s legal team led by former Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te.

The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which became a law in September 2012, was silent on the prescription period when it comes to cyber libel complaint. Ressa and the others were charged in February 2019 for the article in 2012 during Corona’s impeachment trial.

During the trial, the defense presented former NBI Legal Division heads Edwin Leuterio and Joselito Amon to bolster their position that the case has no legal basis to stand on.

Leuterio and Amon issued legal opinions saying there was no legal basis to indict Ressa, Santos and Rappler fro cyber libel. But then NBI Director Dante Gierran did not endorse their opinion and eventually the DOJ overruled their position.

Rappler’s executive Chay Hofilena also took the witness stand and told the court that Ressa has very minimal involvement in Rappler’s day-to-day operation, contrary to what Keng’s camp wants to portray.

Hofilena said Ressa did not edit stories, much less the article assailed by Keng.

Ressa also argued that they cannot be sued under the Cybercrime Law since it became a law only in September 2012 while the assailed article was written in May of that year.

During the trial, the prosecution also asked for the article’s source of information but the court sustained the defense’ objection that it cannot ask for a media outfit’s source of information citing Republic Act 11458 or the Sotto Law that allows journalists to keep their sources confidential unless the court rules that disclosure is demanded by the security of the State.

Ressa said the Duterte administration is just out to get her and Rappler for their critical reporting on the government’s crackdown on illegal drugs.

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