LEGAL REMEDIES | Ressa lawyer says probation ‘on the table’ as next step

June 17, 2020 , 01:07 PM

(June 17, 2020) – Lawyers for an award-winning journalist and a former staff of an online news platform on Wednesday said they are considering probation as one of the legal remedies on her cyber libel conviction.

Speaking to One News’ program “Agenda,” Theodore Te, a lawyer for Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr., said the legal team has have to come up yet with their next move, and seeking probation is among an option on the table.

“Probation is one of the available remedies,” Te, a former spokesman for the Supreme Court, said. “A motion for reconsideration is also one of the remedies that are still available. We know the odds that are stacked against Maria and Rey Santos.”

President Rodrigo Duterte’s spokesman, Harry Roque Jr., also a lawyer, said Ressa and Santos could ask for probation to escape jail time.

Under Philippine law, persons can apply for probation if his or her sentence is not more than six years and they are not convicted of a crime related to national security.

The execution of the sentence will be suspended when a court receives the said application. It would, however, waive their right to appeal their conviction.

A Manila regional trial court found Ressa and Santos Jr., guilty of cyber libel, sentencing them to serve in jail for up to six years and paying businessman Wilfredo Keng of 400,000 pesos in damages.

Ressa had said that they will appeal the said ruling.

Te said the legal team can file a motion for reconsideration in the local court and elevate an appeal when it is denied to the Court of Appeals. It can go up to the Supreme Court for final judgment.

“You know her very well,” he said. “Pwedeng umabot ng Korte Suprema. Maaaring magtagal ito dahil sa dami ng kasong hinahawakan ng Korte Suprema. Maaaring tumagal ito.”

The government has repeatedly denied the president had a hand in Ressa’s conviction after a short eight-month trial.

The court found Rappler’s story on businessman Wilfredo Keng links with drug trade and human trafficking operations as damaging to his reputation.

“Linking President Duterte to the conviction is a blatant disregard of the fact that the judiciary is separate from the executive branch,” said Press Secretary Martin Andanar, adding it “is a disrespect to the independence and impartiality of the Regional Trial Court following the facts of the case.”

Ressa’s conviction alarmed the international community, especially the United States and the European Union.

“We expect the Philippines, like all countries, to uphold its international human rights obligations and protect and promote fundamental freedoms,” the EU’s external action service office said.

American lawmakers also said that the court’s ruling was a “selective application of the law” and a move that distances the Philippines from its commitment to press freedom. (Christian de Lano Deiparine/MM)

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