By Isabella Magno

The Court of Appeals (CA) rejected Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former Rappler researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr.’s appeal on the Manila court’s ruling on their cyber liber case, Friday, July 8. 

Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 found Ressa and Santos guilty of cyber libel following a 2012 Rappler story on businessman Wilfredo Keng’s “shady past” where he was linked to drug and human trafficking and murder—the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 served as the basis for the decision. 

The latest decision means CA upheld their conviction and sentenced them to an indeterminate imprisonment, with a minimum sentence of six months and one day and a maximum sentence of six years. 

However, they still have the option to appeal this decision to the Supreme Court. 

In the appeal, Ressa and Santos cited that the May 2012 article in which the case revolved around was published before the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 was passed, and was “only” modified in February 2014 to fix a typographical error.

Despite that, for the prosecutors and Judge Montesa, the correction of the word “evation” to “evasion” was tantamount to republicating the story. 

Moreover, they mentioned in the appeal that it was “malicious” of the court to call Ressa’s position as an executive editor and not an editor-in-chief a “scheme” and a “clever ruse to avoid liability”.

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