(Eagle News) — Rappler Holdings president Maria Ressa posted a P60,000 bail on Monday, Dec. 3, 2018, before the Pasig Regional Trial Court for the tax evasion cases pending in that court.
Ressa claimed that the charges against her and Rappler Holdings Corporation were “a clear case of harassment.”
“We verified that an arrest warrant had been issued on the basis of what we believe are politically-motivated charges. I surrendered to the court this morning, went through the process of what a criminal would go through, and filed bail without surrendering my right to question the Pasig court’s jurisdiction over this tax case. This is a clear case of harassment,” she said in a statement.
Pasig RTC judge Danilo Buemio signed Ressa’s releaser order after she posted bail.
Arraignment was set for December 7, at 8:30 a.m.
The bail Ressa posted before the Pasig RTC branch branch 265 was for Rappler’s alleged failure to supply correct information in its Value Added Tax (VAT) return for the second quarter of 2015.
The case was filed by the Department of Justice which accused Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC) of earning taxable income worth P2,452,154.87 for the second quarter of 2015, which allegedly resulted in a “deficiency value added tax in the amount of P294,258.58 exclusive of surcharge and interest, to the damage and prejudice of the government.”
This is just one of five tax evasion case filed by the DOJ. The four other cases are filed with the Court of Tax Appeals.
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