Hold The Line Coalition welcomes acquittal of Maria Ressa and Rappler, calls for dropping of remaining cases
September 12, 2023, Manila—The Hold the Line Coalition (HTL) welcomes Tuesday’s Regional Trial Court verdict acquitting Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and her news outlet Rappler on the final criminal tax charge leveled against them by the regime of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The judgment comes after a legal battle lasting nearly five years. If they…
In Marcos Jr.’s Philippines, milder tone belies harsh media reality
At a waterfront courthouse in Tacloban City, a long-time hotbed of communist insurgency in the Philippines’ Eastern Visayas island region, heavily armed guards were escorting jailed journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio to trial. The picturesque setting belied the harsh reality of the April 17 hearing. Cumpio could be put behind bars for life if found guilty…
Hold The Line Coalition welcomes acquittal of Maria Ressa and Rappler, calls for all remaining cases to be closed
January 18, 2023 – The Hold the Line Coalition (HTL) welcomes Wednesday’s Philippine Court of Tax Appeals verdict, which has acquitted Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and Rappler, the news organization she founded, of tax evasion in four of seven cases brought by the government. If they had failed to defend the charges, Ressa could have…
Rappler contributor Frank Cimatu convicted of cyber libel in the Philippines
Bangkok, December 14, 2022 – Philippine authorities should not contest the appeal of journalist Frank Cimatu, and should stop filing spurious cyber libel charges against members of the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. On Tuesday, December 13, a Quezon City court convicted Cimatu, a contributor to the independent news outlet Rappler, of…
Hold the Line Coalition urges Philippine president to keep Maria Ressa out of jail
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should demonstrate his stated commitment to press freedom by ending the State’s attempts to jail Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa, who is threatened with imprisonment in a Philippine jail, the Hold the Line Coalition has urged. This week, the Philippine Court of Appeals rejected Ressa’s motion for a reconsideration of her 2020…
CPJ renews calls on Philippines’ Marcos to drop cyber libel, other cases against Nobel laureate Maria Ressa
Bangkok, October 11, 2022 – In response to news reports that the Philippine Court of Appeals has denied Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa’s motion for reconsideration of her cyber libel conviction, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement on Tuesday: “CPJ laments the Philippine Court of Appeals decision against Rappler’s Maria Ressa and reiterates its call on…
Hold the Line Coalition demands immediate decriminalisation of libel in the Philippines as Maria Ressa faces extended jail sentence
The Hold The Line Coalition condemns the Philippine Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold the conviction of Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa and former Rappler researcher Rey Santos Jr on trumped-up charges of cyber libel. Alarmingly, the court’s rejection of their appeal brings Ressa and Santos Jr a step closer to possible imprisonment. The appeal judges…
Philippine authorities order Rappler to shut down, block access to 2 news websites
Bangkok, June 29, 2022 – Philippine authorities should immediately reverse their order to shut down the independent Rappler news organization and lift their blockages of the local Bulatlat and Pinoy Weekly’s news websites, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. “Philippine authorities must reverse their order to close Rappler and to block access to independent news websites Bulatalat and Pinoy Weekly, and cease fabricating spurious…
‘Red-tagging’ of journalists looms over Philippine elections
As Philippine presidential candidates wind up their campaigns before the May 9 election, journalists in the country are demanding that whoever succeeds President Rodrigo Duterte put an end to “red tagging” – the labeling of individuals as rebels or supporters of the communist insurgency – that helped put their colleague Frenchiemae Cumpio behind bars. Cumpio, the 23-year-old executive director…