The International Press Institute welcomes today’s acquittal of IPI Executive Board member and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa on four tax evasion charges that were part of a campaign of legal harassment against her. A clear victory for press freedom, this ruling must lead to the end of the Philippine government’s attacks against Ressa designed to silence her.
The Philippines Court of Tax Appeals said in a ruling on January 18 that prosecutors had failed to prove their case against Ressa and her news outlet, Rappler. Tax authorities had charged Ressa and Rappler with evading taxes linked to Rappler’s issuance of a type of financial instrument, called Philippine Depositary Receipts, to raise capital.
The case was brought in 2018 by the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, which instigated a wave of politically motivated prosecutions against Ressa and Rappler in retaliation for their critical journalism, which included coverage of Duterte’s violent war on drugs.
“Today, facts win, truth wins, justice wins”, Ressa said after the verdict. In a statement, Rappler, which received the 2018 IPI-IMS Free Media Pioneer award, thanked the court for recognizing that the charges were “fraudulent, false, and flimsy”. The media company said that “politicized” tax authorities under Duterte had deliberately ignored evidence disproving the charges.
With her acquittal on the four tax charges, Ressa and Rappler still face three open court cases: a fifth tax case which is currently behind heard by a lower court; Rappler’s appeal against a closure order linked to alleged violations of Philippine law on foreign ownership; and Ressa’s appeal of her conviction on “cyber libel” charges, which is currently being heard at the Supreme Court. Ressa faces over six years in prison in the cyber libel case.
“Today’s ruling by the tax court is an extremely important victory for press freedom and for the rule of law in the Philippines”, IPI Executive Director Frane Maroević said. “This trumped-up case was part of a years-long effort by the previous Duterte administration to intimidate IPI Executive Board member Maria Ressa and Rappler into silence – an effort that Maria bravely withstood.”
“However, Ressa and Rappler continue to face other politically motivated charges. The decision today must mark the end of this era of harassment. We call on the Philippine authorities under President Marcos to drop all remaining cases brought under the previous government and reinstate full respect for press freedom and independent journalism as fundamental pillars of Philippine democracy.”
“The IPI global network continues to stand with Maria and Rappler as exemplars of fearless independent journalism. We are proud to hold the line with them.”
In addition to the legal cases, Ressa and Rappler have faced relentless online attacks and smear campaigns designed to intimidate them and undermine trust in their work and independent journalism in the Philippines more broadly. Ressa has previously warned of the dangers that the spread of disinformation poses to democracy, including at IPI’s World Congress last year in New York.
Ressa was jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize alongside Russian editor Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to defend free expression as a precondition for democracy and peace. IPI and IMS gave their 2018 Free Media Pioneer award to Rappler in recognition of the site’s innovative approach to journalism and audience engagement as well as its determination to hold authorities accountable despite aggressive attacks on its operations.
