SC allows Nobel Laureate Ressa to travel abroad June 4 to 29
The Supreme Court (SC) has allowed veteran journalist and Nobel Laureate Maria A. Ressa to travel abroad from June 4 to 29 for speaking engagements in Italy, Singapore, United States, and Taiwan.
Ressa, chief executive officer of news outfit Rappler, has appealed her cyber libel conviction and is still pending resolution by the SC.
Last March, the SC also allowed Ressa to travel to Canada, France, South Korea, and the United States for speaking engagements.
The SC’s public information office (PIO) said that Ressa was directed in the High Court’s resolution “to observe the sub judice rule and to refrain from making any comment on or discussing in public her case and other related matters.”
A copy of the SC’s May 29 resolution was not available as of posting.
The PIO said that Ressa “shall travel on the cash bond of P100,000 she previously posted pursuant to an earlier Resolution of the Court.”
Also, Ressa “is required to transmit to the Court an advice in writing of her return to the country within five days from her arrival.”
In a resolution dated Oct. 10, 2022, the Court of Appeals (CA) denied the motion to reconsider its July 22, 2022 decision that affirmed the cyber libel conviction of Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos Jr.
Ressa and Santos were convicted of cyber libel in a decision handed down in June 2020 by Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Rainelda Estacio-Montesa. They were meted out a prison term ranging from six months to six years.
Ressa and Santos elevated the case to the CA which denied their petition. They appealed their case to the SC.