THE PHILIPPINE Court of Appeals (CA) has denied the petition of Rappler, Inc. founder Maria A. Ressa to reconsider her conviction for cyber-libel.
In a 16-page resolution on Oct. 10 and made public on Tuesday, the CA Fourth Division said the appeal failed to raise any new arguments to overturn the decision.
“A careful and meticulous review of the motion for reconsideration reveals that the matters raised by the accused-appellants had already been exhaustively resolved and discussed in the assailed Decision,” according to the ruling penned by Associate Justice Roberto P. Quiroz.
Reynaldo Santos, Jr., a former Rappler researcher, was convicted alongside Ms. Ressa.
Their appeal cited that the court erred in applying the law on cyber-libel retroactively.
She noted the court had extended the period within which a person may be charged with the crime to 15 years instead of one year under the Revised Penal Code.
On July 7, the appellate court affirmed a Manila trial court ruling that convicted the two over a 2012 article on the Rappler news website that claimed a businessman was involved in crimes such as human trafficking and drug trafficking.
The ruling added eight months and 20 days to the initial six-year sentence handed by the trial court, saying the article was malicious and defamatory.
Theodore O. Te, who lawyers for Ms. Ressa and Mr. Santos, said they will bring the case to the Supreme Court (SC).
“The CA decision denying the MFR (motion for reconsideration) is disappointing. It ignored basic principles of constitutional and criminal law as well as the evidence presented, Maria and Rey will elevate these issues to the SC and we will ask the SC to review the decision and to reverse the decision,” he said in a statement. — John Victor D. Ordoñez