MANILA – Rappler’s chief executive officer Maria Ressa is ready for the “worst-case scenario” as a Manila court is set to promulgate today the cyber libel case filed against her and the online news website.
Ressa said she believes the cyberlibel charge, which could detain her for up to 12 years if the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 will rule her guilty, was the administration’s ploy to intimidate all critical voices.
“I’m ready. I’m prepared for the worst. Rappler is prepared for the worst but we are desperately hoping for the best because we believe that the mission of journalism is extremely important today,” Ressa said in a virtual interview with the International Center for Journalists.
“The attacks were four years in the making . . . I was arrested last year, not once but twice. As the verdict day came closer and closer, I know the possibility is there. I said this to the Princeton Class of 2020, the day we accomplish things is to embrace our fear,” she added.
The cyber libel case against Ressa stemmed from a complaint by businessman Wilfredo Keng in 2017 over a Rappler story five years earlier about his alleged ties to a then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Based on the news report of former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr., Keng has allegedly lend his black Chevrolet Suburban to Corona, who was then facing an impeachment complaint.
Rappler reported that the SUV, which bore the plate number ZWK 111, was registered under Keng at the Land Transportation Office. While Keng admitted ZWK 111 was his, he said that he doesn’t own the SUV Corona had been using.
Lawyer Melisas Andaya, the legal counsel of Keng, remained confident, however, that they will get a favorable ruling from the judge of the Manila court.
“We have faith that justice will be served. The reputation of our client Wilfredo Keng will be vindicated,” Andaya said. “We have shown that there is no evidence linking him to the drugs and murder allegations mentioned in the defamatory online article.”
“This should serve as a lesson that no one is above the law. Everyone should be more judicious and circumspect before making accusations, especially when the reputation of a private individual is involved,” she added.
Aside from the cyber libel case, Rappler and Ressa are facing charges of tax fraud, violating the Securities Regulation Code and the Anti-Dummy Law, among others./PN
