Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa Gets Acquitted of Tax Evasion Charges

Nobel laureate Maria Ressa has been cleared by the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) today, Wednesday, January 18, of her four tax evasion charges.

Signed by Associate Justices Catherine Manahan, Jean Marie Bacorro-Villena, and Marian Ivy Reyes-Fajardo had signed the 80-page decision. The CTA 1st Division ordered the acquittal of Ressa and Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC) for "failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.”

The said charges had been filed in March 2018 during the term of President Rodrigo Duterte. This came on the heels of the Securities and Exchange Commission's issuing a closure order against Rappler at the time, claiming that it had violated the constitution by allowing foreign ownership in the company. The tax probe had been filed by former Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Caesar Dulay. He would file the criminal complaints later on. Then-Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra had charged Ressa and RHC at the CTA in November of that same year.

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The Nobel laureate and RHC had been accused by the former administration of evading tax payments back when it raised capital through its partnership with foreign investors like North Base Media and Omidyar Network. The CTA voted 3-0 to decide the “non-taxability of the issuance of PDRs to North Base Media and Omidyar Network.” The court wrote. “No gain or income was realized by accused in the subject transactions."

After the acquittal, Ressa and Rappler now only face three active court cases, including the appeal on the closure of Rappler at the Court of Appeals, an appeal of Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. in their conviction for cyber libel pending at the Supreme Court, and the corporation's pending tax case at the Pasig City RTC. The 59-year-old is still currently on bail as she appeals the libel conviction handed down in 2020.

“Today, facts win, truth wins, justice wins,” an emotional Ressa said of the decision.