(Eagle News)—Rappler’s chief executive officer Maria Ressa posted bail on Friday, March 29, in her Anti-Dummy Law case.
Ressa posted the P90,000 bail before Branch 265 of the Pasig Regional Trial Court after she underwent booking procedures at the Pasig Police Station.
The posting of the bail came following Ressa’s arrest upon her arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 6:30 a.m.
Ressa had been allowed to attend conferences abroad despite her pending cases.
In a statement, Ressa’s lawyer Francis Lim said “this latest episode” of his client’s arrest was “not surprising and we prepared ourselves for it.”
“But let it be crystal clear that these acts of harassment will not deter our clients from doing their duty as journalists,” he said.
“We believe in the rule of law and it is our fervent hope that we will prevail in the end,” he added.
The information was filed in court after the Securities and Exchange Commission ruled Rappler allowed “disqualified foreigners” from Omidyar Network to intervene in the media outfit’s operations via the Philippine Depositary Receipts Rappler issued in 2015.
The SEC said Rappler violated the constitutional restriction on foreign ownership of mass media when it issued the PDRs, and ordered its incorporation papers revoked.
The Court of Appeals has denied Rappler’s appeal of the SEC decision, but ordered the commission to probe the effects of the subsequent donation by Omidyar of the PDRs to Rappler managers.
Ressa’s co-defendants, Rappler managing editor Glenda Gloria, and Manuel Ayala, James Bitanga, Nico Jose Nolledo, James Velasquez and Felicia Atienza, all members of Rappler’s 2016 board, have already posted bail in the Anti-Dummy Law case.
