Maria Ressa, chief executive officer of news website Rappler Inc, and co-accused Reynaldo Santos Jr, former Rappler researcher, have asked a Manila court to dismiss the cyber-libel case filed against them by the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), which represents Ressa, Santos and Rappler Inc, moved to quash the information or the charge sheet filed by the DoJ, which stemmed from a resurrected complaint of businessman Wilfredo Keng before the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) 46 in connection with an article posted by Rappler seven years ago.
The DoJ in its information sheet, used “republished” to apply the Cybercrime Prevention Act on the article by Santos, which appeared on Rappler on May 29, 2012, four months before the law was enacted.
The story titled “CJ using SUVs of ‘controversial’ businessmen” claimed that Keng owned the sport utility vehicle that the late chief justice Renato Corona used during his impeachment trial.
The DoJ argued that since a typographical mistake was corrected in February 2014, the statute on cybercrime could be applied retroactively.
In other words, the department said that a crime was consummated by Ressa, et al.
Lawyer Theodore Te, who took over the cyber-libel case and was now representing the Rappler chief, disputed the DoJ’s basis, saying that the high court issued a temporary restraining order against the law on October 9, 2012.
The high tribunal sided with the law on February 11, 2014, or eight days before the “republication,” but appeals were filed, and it upheld its decision only on April 22, 2014.
The motion said, “There is no doubt that multiple republication does not apply here and there is similarly no doubt that the prosecution’s theory is based on an ex-post facto(Latin for after the fact) application of law.”
It said that “during the duration of this TRO – October 9, 2012 continuously until April 22, 2014 – there was effectively no RA 10175. That is the legal, practical, and actual effect of the Supreme Court’s TRO. The alleged republication was done on February 19, 2014, when the TRO was still in effect.”