BACOLOD City – Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa is facing up to six years in prison after she was found guilty yesterday of cyber libel over a 2012 article that linked a businessman to alleged illegal activities.
In handing down the verdict, Manila Regional Trial Court Judge Rainelda Estacio–Montesa said the exercise of a freedom “should and must be used with due regard to the freedom of others.”
Responding to the verdict, Ressa vowed not be silenced and accused the judiciary of becoming complicit in a campaign to stifle press freedom.
“Freedom of the press is the foundation of every single right you have as a Filipino citizen,” she separately told reporters. “We’re at the precipice, if we fall over we’re no longer a democracy.”
The 2018 TIME magazine Person of the Year earlier said she was “prepared for the worst” outcome in the case, which resulted in her brief detention in February last year.
Reynaldo Santos, a former Rappler researcher and writer, was also found guilty in the case. Ressa and Santos were allowed to post bail pending an appeal.
Ressa and Santos will remain on bail they previously posted and have been given 15 days to consider their next move, according to their counsel, former Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te. (With Reuters/PN)
