Nobel winner Maria Ressa, news outlet cleared of tax evasion
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa and her online news company were cleared Wednesday of tax evasion charges she said were among a slew of legal cases used by former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to try to muzzle critical reporting.
The Court of Tax Appeals ruled that prosecutors failed to prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that Ressa and Rappler Holdings Corp. evaded tax payments in four instances after raising capital through partnerships with two foreign investors. “The acquittal of the accused is based on the findings of the court...that respondents did not commit the crime charge,” the court said in its decision.
Rappler welcomed the court decision as “the triumph of facts over politics.”
“We thank the court for this just decision and for recognizing that the fraudulent, false, and flimsy charges made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue do not have any basis in fact,” Rappler said in a statement. “An adverse decision would have had far-reaching repercussions on both the press and the capital markets.”
“Today, facts win, truth wins, justice wins,” Rappler quoted Ressa as saying after the verdict was announced.
Ressa won the Nobel with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov in 2021 for fighting for the survival of their news organizations, defying government efforts to shut them. The two were honored for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
The tax charges against Ressa and Rappler stemmed from a separate charge by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Manila’s corporate watchdog, in 2018 that the news website violated a constitutional provision that prohibits foreign ownership and control of Philippine media companies when it received funds from foreign investors...
