MANILA – Rappler chief executive officer Maria Ressa and six other former officials of the online news outfit have been slapped with charges for violating the Anti-Dummy Law and Securities Regulation Code before a Pasig City court.
Charged before the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office were Ressa, managing editor Glenda Gloria and 2016 board members Manuel Ayala, Nico Nolledo, James Bitanga, Felicia Atienza, and James Velasquez.
The case, which was filed by the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division, would be heard by the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 265, which recommended a P90,000 bail for each of the respondents.
Senior Assistant City Prosecutor Randy Esteban accused Ressa and Rappler’s board of issuing Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) to foreign investment firm Omidyar Network Fund in 2015.
By issuing PDRs to Omidyar, the Rappler grant them the right to “intervene in the management, operation, administration or control of the website, which is a violation of the Anti-Dummy Law.
According to the case information, Omidyar was a foreign corporation and is not allowed/proscribed by the Constitution or the laws of Philippines to acquire or use the same, thereby allowing, or giving the right to Omidyar Network Fund LLC, to intervene in the management, operation, administration and control of Rappler Inc. and Rappler Holdings Corporation in violation of the of the anti-dummy law.
The latest charge is only one of the several criminal cases slapped against Rappler and its CEO since January last year./PN
