PAGBABAGO
Dr. Florangel Rosario-Braid
Amidst the growing skepticism over the slow pace of justice, and concern over the alarming state of disinformation in the country today, the recent acquittal of Nobel laureate and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa gives us hope.
An 81-page decision by Justice Catherine Manahan, the Court of Tax Appeal (CTA) showed that state prosecutors failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ressa and Rappler had evaded income taxes.
As the news reports state, the case was based on an accusation by the Department of Justice after a complaint filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue stating that Rappler had evaded tax payments when it raised its capital through a partnership with North Base Media (NBM) and Omidyar Network. The CTA however found no legal basis in the allegation saying that the elements of crime under the NTRC did not exist.
Thus, Rappler is not required to pay the income tax. As every thinking Filipino would realize, the accusation which was made during President Duterte’s administration is “politically motivated” and a case of harassment, as Ressa herself describes it. And, as Jonathan Ong, an academic researcher notes, a form of “digital bullying” that could lead to silencing and chilling effects among dissenters and the public. Ong cites this as “state-sponsored model of disinformation, one of the four models of disinformation in the Philippines, according to a National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) study. The other three are the “clickbait model” that uses websites used by political pundits and influencers. It is the most “politically agnostic and commercially driven;” the “in-house staff model” which is used by veterans of political campaigns and chiefs of staff; and finally, the “advertising model,” used by politicians and donors that outsource trolling jobs to public relations and advertising firms.
Going back to Ressa’s acquittal that was hailed by local media watchers and freedom fighters who described the win as an inspiration, a repudiation of the government’s vindictiveness,” former Vice President Leni Robredo tweeted, “Truth and light prevailed today.” Sen. Risa Hontiveros noted that “the acquittal was an important win for free and defiant journalism.” The Canadian and Dutch governments which co-chair the Media Freedom Coalition said, “It is an important and positive step toward upholding rule of law and media freedom.”
But the fight is not over for Ressa who still faces cyber-libel conviction together with fellow Rappler researcher, Reynaldo Santos in another case for alleged violation of the tax code concerning the value-added tax return for 2015; and for violating the anti-dummy law, in a separate case filed in Pasig over PDRs issued to foreign investors in 2015.
The fact that the country had slumped to 147th out of 180 countries, its lowest rank in eight years in the World Press Freedom Index, means we will need to prove that we deserve to return to our original rating of a “free” democracy.
Artificial intelligence (AI) which has already made its presence felt, would soon dominate our information landscape and will be able to output massive quantities of fabricated news which would blur the line between what the public thinks is fact from false information. We must then be prepared to meet this challenge.
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