NUPL sees clear message of ‘arrogant powers’ on Ressa conviction: You shut up or you will get it

The guilty verdict handed down to Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. for alleged cyber libel sends a clear message to those exercising their freedom of speech, National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia said Monday.

"The message is clear, the arrogant powers can squander time, resources and power on getting back at those asserting their rights and calling them out. You shut up or you will get it," Olalia said in a statement.

He said the decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 46 was "scorchingly disappointing."

"Once again, a number of our courts have missed the noble opportunity to hand out verdicts saying they will not be a party to the insanity and legal bullying," he said.

"Can the people still cling to the hope that ultimately they can come to them for refuge and reason?" he added.

In January 2019, government prosecutors indicted Ressa, Santos, and Rappler for cyber libel in January 2019 over an article published by the news site in 2012 that cites an "intelligence report" linking businessman and private complainant Wilfredo Keng to human trafficking and drug smuggling.

The said article was published months before the anti-cybercrime law was enacted. However, prosecutors alleged that the "republished" version of the story in 2014 is covered by the said law.

On Monday, the regional trial court sentenced Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. to six months and one day to up to six years in jail after finding them guilty of cyber libel.

'Tangential attack'

Olalia said the public should not cower on fighting back against both "overt and tangential or thinly-veiled gagging."

"Tangential, 'yun ang ginawa nila kasi 'yung so-called libelous article hindi naman kontra doon sa gobyerno, kontra kay Keng," he said in a phone interview with GMA News Online.

"Sa mundo ng realidad, essentially, ultimately, fundamentally, gumamit ka ng paraan para kunwari hindi mo pinipigilan [ang freedom of speech] pero 'yun ang weapon mo. Al Capone solution ang tawag diyan eh," he added.

Olalia, nonetheless, noted that Al Capone was a "bad example" as he explained that the said personality was a famous American gangster who was arrested by the US government by charging him with tax evasion.

"Hindi siya na-convict sa murder, sa drug dealing, naghanap sila ng butas—tax evasion ang ginawa or tax fraud. Doon siya nakulong. Pero hindi siya magandang example kasi gangster nga iyon," he said.

The Human Rights Watch said the intimidation against Rappler appears to be in retaliation for the news outlet's reporting on the government's "war on drugs."

Olalia underscored that this ruling may cause a "chilling effect" to other journalists in the country.

"Magiging super maingat naman masyado to the point na naakaka-discourage na. Ibig sabihin, bago ka magsulat o pagkatapos magsulat, 'Madadali ba ako dito?' Napa-paranoid ka, nare-restrain ka tuloy," he said.

On the other hand, Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa, who handed down the ruling on the case of Ressa and Santos, said the freedom of speech and of the press were not curtailed.

"Each person, journalist or not has that constitutionally guaranteed right to freely express, write and make known his opinion. But with the highest ideals in mind what society expects is a responsible free press. It is in acting responsibly that freedom is given its true meaning," she said. — RSJ, GMA News