The Court of Appeals (CA) has affirmed the trial court’s conviction of Rappler’s Chief Executive Officer Maria A. Ressa and the news outfit’s former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. for cyber libel under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
However, instead of a prison term of only six months and one day as minimum to six years as maximum as ordered by the trial court, the CA modified the penalty imposed on Ressa and Santos to a minimum of six months and one day to a maximum of six years, eight months and 20 days.
Only the pages containing the dispositive portion and the signatures of the CA justices were made available.
The dispositive portion of the CA decision – written by Associate Justice Roberto P. Quiroz with the concurrence of Associate Justices Ramon M. Bato Jr. and Germano Francisco D. Legaspi – did not state if the payment of P400,000 in moral and exemplary damages to businessman Wilfredo Keng – the complainant -- was also affirmed as ordered by the trial court.
The dispositive portion of the CA’s decision, which denied the appeal of Ressa and Santos from the ruling handed down by the Manila regional trial court on June 15, 2020, states:
“WHEREFORE, the appeal is DENIED. The Decision dated June 15, 2020 of the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46, Manila in Criminal Cas No. R-MNL-19-01141-CR, finding accused appellants Reynaldo Santos Jr. and Maria A. Ressa guilty beyond reasonable doubt for violation of Section 4(c)4 of Republic Act No. 10175, otherwise known as the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION insofar as both accused-appellants Reynaldo Santos Jr. and Maria A. Ressa are sentenced to suffer the indeterminate penalty of imprisonment ranging from six (6) months and one (1) day of prision correccional in its minimum period, as minimum, to six (6) years, eight (8) months and twenty (20) day of prision mayor in its minimum period, as maximum. SO ORDERED.”
Ressa and Santos, under the rules, can still file a motion to reconsider the CA decision. If their motion is denied, they can file an appeal before the Supreme Court (SC).
The cyber libel complaint was based on a 2012 article written by Santos claiming that Keng lent his sports utility vehicle to then Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.
The same article also cited an intelligence report that Keng had been under surveillance by the National Security Council for alleged involvement in human trafficking and drug smuggling.
Keng filed the complaint in 2017. He was quoted as saying that he was forced to seek legal vindication after his efforts for Rappler to rectify the published article became futile.