After four years, the Court of Tax Appeals finally decided to junk the four tax evasion charges against Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and online news outfit Rappler. Today’s court decision is a welcome development but “the cases against Maria and Rappler illustrate the increasing use of the law for reprisal against and for intimidation against journalists and civil society,” the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines’ statement read.
Prior to the NUJP statement, Ressa had known there is much work to do and Rappler had stated, “With you we will continue to #HoldTheLine.”
The work of a journalist these days is tougher as these are the same days that we find it equally tougher to identify who a journalist is. Can one say amen to “Journalist Apollo Quiboloy?” Former police general and now Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong cannot; in fact, he warned last Monday of legal actions against the SMNI TV personality Quiboloy over red-tagging. He remains on the FBI’s most wanted list for his alleged participation in a labor trafficking scheme and got sanctioned by the US Treasury Department over “serious human rights abuse,” but SMNI is always out to defend Quiboloy’s truth.
It goes without saying that Ressa and many other real journalists and their organizations need our support because social media and journalism are virtually one and the same these days. To start supporting, one needs only to pay attention to her latest Tweet:
“Maraming salamat po! Siguro naman po – para sa mga trolls ng @rapplerdotcom at mga naniwala sa mga kasinungalingan tungkol sa amin, napatunayan na po namin na hindi tax evader ang Rappler. Medyo matagal nga lang po. 4 years and 2 months pero naging tama na rin.”
Ahead of us are brighter days in terms of a looming reoccurrence of journalism of the bright, though one need not be a very good reporter as long as he or she can report with accuracy, fairness, honesty, and courage to gather, report, and interpret available information. Ressa’s organization said it best: “Rappler will continue to dream big and explore what technology can offer… We believed then, as we do now, that journalism, technology, and empowered communities will be the guardrails of any democracy.”
Her lawyer uttered: “We had no doubt this day would come. I told them to keep the faith because in our hearts we knew an acquittal would come. We trust our judiciary, everybody knows where this case came from.”
More importantly, her acquittal by the CTA First Division on the four counts of tax evasion means we can fervently hope – and continue to call – for the freedom of detained journalists like Frenchie Mae Cumpio, including former Sen. Leila de Lima, a leading critic and investigator of the ruthless war on drugs of the previous administration.
DC Alviar
Professor DC Alviar serves as a member of the steering committee of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PHISO). He was part of National University’s community extension project that imparted the five disciplines of a learning organization (Senge, 1990) to communities in a local government unit. He writes and edits local reports for Mega Scene. He graduated with a master’s degree in development communication from the University of the Philippines Open University in Los Baños. He recently defended a dissertation proposal for his doctorate degree in communication at the same graduate school under a Philippine government scholarship grant. He was editor-in-chief of his high school paper Ang Ugat and the Adamson News.
