OSG pushes for acquittal of Maria Ressa, Reynaldo Santos

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has filed a motion with the Supreme Court (SC) recommending the acquittal of Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. in their cyberlibel case.

In its statement, the OSG cited the SC ruling in Berteni Causing v. People, which shortened the prescription period for cyberlibel offenses to one year.

“Applying this doctrine, the filing of the criminal information against Ressa and Santos in early 2019 for the article re-published in 2014 and discovered by the complainant in 2016 is time-barred,” the OSG said.

The OSG filed its recommendation on March 9, Monday.

In 2020, a Manila court convicted Ressa and Santos of cyberlibel charges over a 2012 article that cited an “intelligence report” linking the complainant to human trafficking and drug smuggling.

The conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals in 2022.

The OSG explained that prescription is the legal period within which a criminal information must be filed; after this period, the state can no longer prosecute the case.

“Although the OSG previously sought reconsideration in Causing, it manifested in a filing likewise made on March 9, 2026 that the government now accepts the Court’s decision as it supplies a workable, predictable limiting principle on prescription,” the statement said.

“On this basis, the OSG sought to apply the Causing ruling to the case of Ressa and Santos,” it added.

The office said the government now recognizes that the clarification in Causing is more consistent with the Revised Penal Code and the Cybercrime Prevention Act.

It further noted that the recommendation to acquit Ressa and Santos is grounded in law and duty.

“As the People’s Tribune, the OSG’s mandate in criminal proceedings is not confined to seeking convictions,” it said.

“It includes assisting the courts in arriving at a just and legally correct disposition, grounded on the Constitution, statutes, and controlling jurisprudence—even, and especially when, the law requires acquittal,” the OSG added.—MCG, GMA Integrated News