Officials: There was ‘no reversal’ in NBI decision on cyber libel complaint vs. Rappler

Officials of the Department of Justice and the National Bureau of Investigation claimed on Monday that they did not reverse an earlier decision not to file a cyber libel complaint against Rappler over an article published in 2012.

Instead, there was a “premature disclosure” of information that the bureau was not filing a complaint against the online news site, information that was yet to be reviewed, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II noted at a press conference on Monday.

On March 2, the NBI transmitted its findings to the DOJ that eight Rappler officers and a former reporter be prosecuted over an article they ran in 2012. The article cited that businessman Wilfredo Keng was linked to “human trafficking and drug smuggling.”

This development came a week after reports surfaced that the NBI was no longer filing a case against the embattled news site because the prescriptive period for filing a libel case had lapsed before Keng lodged a complaint against Rappler.

At the same press conference, NBI Director Dante Gierran said there was “no such thing as reversal” and claimed that the initial report on the NBI not filing a case stemmed from a “casual giving of information on a matter that is not yet terminated.”

NBI Deputy Director Ferdinand Lavin noted there were “intervening factors” stemming from Keng’s supplemental affidavit in relation to his complaint.

“It was advisory, it was not conclusive. And may we correct the impression that there was a revival or a reversal. In the first place, there was no closure. It was one of the theories discussed in the course of the discussion,” he said.

“There were intervening factors that came about after the filing of the supplemental affidavit. This was the basis for the final resolution by the Computer Crimes Division,” Lavin said.

In a statement on Friday, Rappler questioned what it called a “revival” of an already-dismissed case.

“As party to the case, we are not provided any notice, the letter was only leaked to the media, yet the NBI, to date, has refused to speak with our reporter about it,” Rappler said in a statement.

“Why would the NBI risk its credibility and reputation, and reverse its earlier ruling? Are there instructions from higher-ups whom NBI officials could not say no to?” the Rappler noted.

Apart from the cyber libel complaint, Rappler is also facing a tax evasion complaint from the Bureau of Internal Revenue and is appealing before the Court of Appeals a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission to revoke its incorporation papers on grounds of foreign ownership. —VDS, GMA News