MANILA – The tax evasion charges filed against online news website Rappler and its executive editor and chief executive officer, Maria Ressa, has nothing to do with freedom of expression, Malacañang said on Sunday.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of expression David Kaye should not interfere since the cases against Ressa and Rappler do not “constitute censorship.”
“For Mr. Kaye’s enlightenment, tax evasion is a serious offense not only in the Philippines but in other countries as well. The case against the media outfit has absolutely nothing to do with the freedom of expression,” Panelo said in a statement.
“Being a media entity and a journalist cannot shield them from criminal prosecution when they violate the law,” President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman added. “A court of competent jurisdiction has found probable cause against them. Hence, they have been formally charged.”
Panelo also told Kaye that freedom of expression in the Philippines is “very much respected” with Rappler and its reporters continuing to publish articles critical to the Duterte administration.
“Should there be cases of censorship, people are always free to seek redress from the courts. We note that there are no reports of such cases so far,” the Palace spokesman said.
Moreover UN representatives should be “more circumspect instead of politicizing a crime and ignoring its gravity and assaulting the sovereignty of our country,” Panelo added.
In November the Department of Justice found probable cause to charge Ressa and Rappler for tax evasion. Earlier the Bureau of Internal Revenue filed a tax evasion charge against the media company.
Two weeks ago four cases were filed at the Court of Tax Appeals and one at the Pasig City Regional Trial Court accusing Ressa and the company of failure to file income and value-added tax returns, in violation of sections 254 and 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997.
Just last week the Pasig City RTC issued a warrant of arrest against Ressa for violation of Section 255 of the law. She posted a P60,000 bail bond./PN
