Maria Ressa, Rappler reporter arraigned on cyber libel charges

Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and one of her reporters were arraigned before a Manila court on Tuesday in connection with a cyber libel case.

Judge Maria Victoria Soriano-Villadolid of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 24 entered not guilty pleas on behalf of Ressa and Rappler reporter Rambo Talabong after they refused to enter pleas.

Ressa and Talabong later attended the mediation proceedings.

Prosecutors have accused Ressa and Talabong of ruining the reputation of a program chairperson at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (CSB) who allegedly accepted bribes from thesis students.

In his report published in January 2020, Talabong wrote about students in CSB's Export Management Program allegedly paying P20,000 to pass their class. The students in Talabong's article said they paid thesis coordinator Ariel Pineda through a middleman.

Pineda did not respond to the allegations in the Rappler article despite repeated requests for comment, according to the report.

The prosecution said the article made it seem Pineda "is a corrupt professor or chairperson by passing thesis students for money, thereby exposing him, as in fact, he was exposed to dishonor, public contempt, discredit and ridicule."

Ressa and Talabong remain free on bail.

In a separate case, a court in Manila convicted Ressa of cyber libel a year ago over a Rappler story in 2012 that reported businessman Wilfredo Keng’s supposed links to illegal activities.

Ressa and Reynaldo Santos, Jr., the author of the article, moved for the reconsideration of the trial court's decision but the court stood by its ruling, prompting them to challenge their convictions before the Court of Appeals.

Keng, meanwhile, withdrew his second cyber libel case against Ressa last month. — RSJ, GMA News