A Philippine court acquitted Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and her media company Rappler of tax evasion charges filed during the Rodrigo Duterte administration, a move that may ease concerns over media freedom in one of Asia's oldest democracies.
Ressa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her work to safeguard freedom of expression, had faced four charges along with Rappler that they didn't pay taxes when it raised capital through a partnership with North Base Media and Omidyar Network. The tax court said it ruled in favor of acquittal because of the "failure of the prosecution to prove the guilt beyond reasonable doubt."
"We need independent media that will hold power to account," Ressa told reporters outside the court on Wednesday, adding that the charges were politically motivated.
The decision comes months after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to protect press freedom shortly after the killing of a veteran broadcaster in October. His father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos shut down and took over major media outlets including ABS-CBN Corp. when he imposed Martial Law in 1972, only allowing several print media owned by his close associates to operate.
Ressa, who won international praise for investigations of alleged police abuses in Duterte's anti-drug efforts, still faces three other court cases. One of them is her appeal against a cyber libel
All these cases were filed during Duterte's administration and journalism advocates say the case is part of a campaign of official intimidation. Duterte's spokesman at the time has consistently denied his role in influencing the cases, calling the cyber libel conviction a result of "bad journalism" and "bad lawyering."
Despite the favorable ruling on Wednesday for Ressa, her company Rappler is fighting an order from the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission to close for allegedly violating rules against foreign ownership in mass media. Rappler has denied the allegations in the past, accusing Duterte's government of harassment, intimidation and attempting to silence journalists.
