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Agence France-Presse

Philippine Nobel laureate Maria Ressa was acquitted on Tuesday of her final tax evasion charge, the latest legal victory for the veteran journalist as she battles to stay out of prison.
Ressa smiled as the judge delivered the verdict in a case that has dragged on for nearly five years.
The 59-year-old, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, has been fighting multiple charges filed during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, and still faces two cases.
A vocal critic of Duterte and his deadly drug war, Ressa has long maintained that the charges against her and Rappler, the news website she co-founded in 2012, were politically motivated.

“You gotta have faith,” a visibly relieved Ressa told reporters outside the court after the acquittal.
Ressa and Rappler had faced five government charges of tax evasion stemming from the 2015 issue of Philippine depositary receipts, which is a way for companies to raise money from foreign investors.
A court acquitted them on four charges in January. The fifth was heard by a different court, which cleared her and Rappler of wrongdoing on Tuesday.
‘Thank you Duterte’: Ressa’s Nobel Peace Prize win stuns Philippines
“Today, we celebrate the triumph of facts over politics,” Rappler said in a statement.
“We thank the court for this just decision and for recognising that the fraudulent, false, and flimsy charges made by the Bureau of Internal Revenue do not have any basis in fact.”
Despite the acquittals, Ressa and Rappler face an uncertain future as they battle another two court cases.
Ressa and a former colleague Rey Santos Jnr are appealing a cyber libel conviction that carries a nearly seven-year jail sentence.
Rappler, meanwhile, is challenging a Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission order to close for allegedly violating a ban on foreign ownership in media.


Under the constitution, only Philippine citizens or entities controlled by citizens can invest in the media.
That case springs from a 2015 investment by the US-based Omidyar Network, established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.
Omidyar Network later transferred its Rappler investment to the site’s local managers to stave off efforts by Duterte to shut it down.
Despite the remaining hurdles, Ressa was characteristically defiant and optimistic on Tuesday, telling reporters the latest acquittal “strengthens our resolve to continue with the justice system”.
It shows that the court system works and we hope to see the remaining charges dismissed
Maria Ressa, Philippine journalist
“It shows that the court system works and we hope to see the remaining charges dismissed,” she said.
Ressa and Rappler’s legal troubles began in 2016 with the election of Duterte, who frequently launched foul-mouthed attacks against his critics.
They have faced what press freedom advocates describe as a grinding series of criminal charges, arrests and online abuse.
Duterte’s government claimed it had nothing to do with any of the cases against Ressa.

Another high-profile Duterte critic, human rights campaigner Leila de Lima, has spent more than six years in jail on drug trafficking charges she said were fabricated to silence her.
Throughout the campaign against her, Ressa, who is also a US citizen, has remained based in the Philippines.
Ressa is on bail pending the appeal against her cyber libel conviction and is required to apply for court approval when she wants to travel abroad.
That included her trip to Norway in December 2021 to collect her Nobel Peace Prize.
Nobel winner Ressa slams tech firms for fuelling hate after accepting award
Ressa and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were jointly awarded the Nobel for their efforts to “safeguard freedom of expression”.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, who succeeded Duterte in June 2022, previously said that he would not interfere in Ressa’s cases, citing the separation of powers between the executive and judicial branches of government.


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The Philippines

Philippines journalist Maria Ressa acquitted of tax evasion – but the fight’s not over yet

Philippine journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa (right) reacts outside court following her acquittal in a tax evasion case on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Ressa (centre) speaks to the media outside a regional trial court in Pasig City, Metro Manila, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Supporters of detained former opposition senator and high-profile Duterte critic Leila de Lima pray as they hold signs calling for her release from prison outside a trial court in May this year. Photo: AP

Philippine senate steps up bipartisan support for stronger stance against ‘brazen’ China: ‘stop bullying us’

People protest outside the Chinese consulate in Makati, Metro Manila on August 11 to condemn the water canon incident between China and Philippines Coast Guard in the West Philippine Sea. Photo: AFP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (middle), Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri (left) and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. President Marcos Jnr said he will not let China trample on his country’s maritime rights. Photo: AP

Philippine President Marcos Jnr and his sister Senator Imee Marcos who continues to urge closer Philippine-China ties. Photo: AP

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri presides over the plenary session on May 31. He suggested this week a boycott of Chinese companies and goods. Photo: AFP

How Philippines’ first sovereign wealth fund can succeed against all odds

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (centre) after signing the Maharlika sovereign wealth fund into law at the Malacanang Palace in Manila. Photo: Philippines Presidential Photographers Association/AFP

A protest against the passing into law of a bill creating the Maharlika Investment Fund held in Manila last month. Photo: AFP

The port of Djibouti. The tiny Horn of Africa nation has become a military outpost for countries including the United States, China, France, Italy and Japan. Photo: AP

A US marine stands guard at a military base near New Clark City in the Philippines, during the US-Philippines Balikatan military exercises in April. Photo: dpa

South China Sea: as Philippines hosts US-Japan-Australia drills, will external players’ presence escalate tensions?

US, Australian, Japanese and South Korean warships take part in joint drills in the Pacific Ocean last month. Analysts say this week’s US-Japan-Australia exercises off the Philippines are a result of “China’s bad behaviour at sea”. Photo: US Navy/Handout

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (right) walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing in January. Observers say Manila needs to “recalibrate” its South China Sea policy. Photo: Xinhua via AP

Philippine and US coastguard ships patrol in the South China Sea in September last year. Photo: EPA-EFE

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa prepares for jail, even as she fights cyber libel conviction

Maria Ressa, executive editor and CEO of Philippine news website Rappler, speaks to the media after being found guilty of cyber libel in Manila on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Interview with Maria Ressa, veteran journalist and co-founder of Philippine online news site Rappler, at the SCMP studio in Causeway Bay. 17MAY19 SCMP / Nora Tam

FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival, from a visit in Israel and Jordan at Davao International airport in Davao City in southern Philippines, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr. - RC15F3EF3400/File Photo

Duterte is the Putin of Asia. Maria Ressa is the proof

Mirror image: Rodrigo Duterte and Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP

(FILES) In this file photo taken on January 22, 2018, CEO of Philippine news website Rappler, Maria Ressa speaks to the media at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) headquarters in Manila. - Ressa, who has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested in her office on February 13, 2019 on a cyber libel charge that carries 12 years behind bars. (Photo by NOEL CELIS / AFP)

epa06125588 Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) fishing at the cascade of mountain lakes during his vacation on 01-03 August 2017 (issued 05 August 2017), in the Tyva Republic in the southern Siberia, Russia. EPA/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN POOL MANDATORY CREDIT

FILE - A Friday, Aug. 31, 2012 photo from files showing Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky talking to the media after losing his case against Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich as he leaves the High Court in London. Russian oligarch who moved to Britain in the early 2000s, Berezovsky became a strident critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and was found dead on the bathroom floor at his home in southern England in March 2013. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

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A vocal critic of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war, Ressa has long said that the charges against her were politically motivated
Despite the acquittals, Ressa and Rappler, the news website she co-founded, still face an uncertain future as they battle another two court cases


A vocal critic of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war, Ressa has long maintained that the charges against her and her news website Rappler were politically motivated.


Philippines journalist Maria Ressa acquitted of tax evasion – but the fight’s not over yet

A vocal critic of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war, Ressa has long said that the charges against her were politically motivated Despite the acquittals, Ressa and Rappler, the news website she co-founded, still face an uncertain future as they battle another two court cases

A vocal critic of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war, Ressa has long said that the charges against her were politically motivated

Despite the acquittals, Ressa and Rappler, the news website she co-founded, still face an uncertain future as they battle another two court cases