The Philippine Tax Appeals Court this Wednesday acquitted Filipino journalist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and her digital news outlet Rappler of four outstanding counts of the alleged crime of tax evasion, charges the reporter denounced as politically motivated. Philippine prosecutors accused her of failing to provide Rappler with necessary tax information for the third and fourth quarters of 2015, as well as tax evasion, charges brought during the tenure of controversial former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, whose War on Drugs by Ressa his medium was denounced.
In a statement released Wednesday, Ressa proclaimed: “Today, facts win, truth wins, justice wins.” “These allegations were a blatant abuse of power, a political siege on journalists trying to hold power accountable.” , added the Nobel laureate.
When Ressa was arrested in 2019, the Union of Philippine Journalists said the case against the Filipino journalist was a clear attack by the Duterte executive on the independent press, which had openly disliked Rappler and other media outlets. Reporters Without Borders also joined in the criticism of the government: “This is not a legal matter, but an attempt to gag a media company and a journalist who is internationally recognized for her professionalism and independence.”
Ressa and his Rappler portal were the scourge of Rodrigo Duterte with their research and critical publications. The journalist has always claimed that the numerous lawsuits she faces are the result of a campaign of political persecution.
Rappler, the Nobel portal, in court
The journalist and her portal Rappler still have three cases to be resolved by the Philippine courts. In June 2022, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered Rappler shut down for allegedly violating the country’s restrictions on media ownership by foreign companies. It was a major setback for press freedom in the Philippines just a day after Duterte left Malacañán Palace. Von Rappler denied such allegations and appealed the decision. The appeal is still pending.
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The regulator issued a similar court decision against Rappler back in January 2018, after which digital operations continued. The portal was founded in 2012, it has become a reference medium for combating disinformation and exposing many abuses committed during the fight against drugs launched by Duterte in 2016, in which Human Rights Watch denounced the deaths of up to 30,000 people the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorized an investigation into possible crimes against humanity in September 2021.
Duterte announced the Philippines’ withdrawal from the TPI in 2018, but had to wait until 2019 for it to take effect. The former Philippine President’s ruse managed to limit the judges’ work, as they could only investigate the period when it was still a member state: between November 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019. The judges followed suit According to the data provided so far by the public prosecutor’s office, this campaign against drug trafficking amounts to a systematic attack on the civilian population. The Philippine authorities estimated the number of dead in the police raids at “about 7,000”.
Ressa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2021, of all things, for her research into the former Philippine President’s controversial drug war and for combating false reports and misinformation in the Asian archipelago.
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