‘A RAY OF HOPE’: PHILIPPINES’ NOBEL PRIZE WINNER MARIA RESSA ACQUITTED OF TAX EVASION

Wed 18 January 2023:

Maria Ressa, a Filipino who won the Nobel Prize, and her online news site Rappler were cleared of tax evasion charges.

In a case Ressa has described as a part of a pattern of harassment by the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte to stifle critical reporting, an appellate court’s decision on Wednesday gave her a triumph.

Following the verdict, the 59-year-old Filipino-American journalist described the ruling as a win for justice and truth, and said, “this acquittal is not just for Rappler it is for every Filipino who has ever been unjustly accused.” She added, “these charges… were politically motivated… a brazen abuse of power.”

“Today, facts win. Truth wins. Justice wins,” an emotional Ressa said after Wednesday’s ruling.

“These charges as you know were politically motivated, they were a brazen abuse of power and meant to stop journalists from doing their jobs,” she told reporters.

“These cases are where capital markets, where rule of law, where press freedom meet. So this acquittal is not just for Rappler. It is for every Filipino who has ever been unjustly accused.”

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The tax evasion case was filed following accusations by the state revenue agency, which claimed that Rappler, from its tax returns proceeds of 2015 omitted the sale of depository receipts to foreign investors. This further became the base for revoking the media outlet’s licence.

Ressa has been engulfed in legal battles for years and she claimed that she had been targeted for her critical news reports on former president Duterte and his deadly war on drugs.

Duterte. These cases have stoked international concerns over media harassment in the Philippines, which is touted as one of the most dangerous places for journalists in Asia.

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The veteran journalist is presently out on bail while she files an appeal against a 2020 sentence of six years in jail following a libel conviction.

Ressa, speaking to Al Jazeera, following her win said it was not clear what might happen in the remaining cases against her.

But Wednesday’s ruling was “a ray of hope”, she said. “It’s our first, the first time we’ve won something in our justice system since this political harassment began.” Ressa said she was expecting a win “because there was no evidence presented in this case” but had been preparing for a conviction because “that’s what’s been happening in the last six years.”

“This is the first time justice wins,” she said, adding that the ruling gave hope not just to her and Rappler, but others imprisoned in the Philippines on what she described as politically motivated charges.

The Asian nation is ranked 147th out of 180 nations on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index, and the Philippines is ranked eighth in the 2021 Index of Impunity by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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