The court decided to drop another libel charge against Maria Ressa. This is the second libel charge against the journalist being dropped in two months. The case concerned the alleged corruption at a leading university - De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, regarding which the university itself decided to open an investigation. The case was particularly baffling because Ressa herself was neither involved in the research nor in the publication of the piece that made the allegations.

Journalist Lady Ann Salem continues to be detained in jail despite the fact that the court dismissed all charges against her due to police misconduct. Ann was arrested on December 10, 2020, and has been in prison since despite being innocent.

The Regional Trial Court Branch 64 in Manila that is tasked with deciding on Maria Ressa and Rey Santos Jr.’s request for reconsideration on their cyber libel conviction, has denied the request on basis of lacking merit.

Solicitor General Jose Calida has asked the Supreme Court to revoke the legislative franchise of broadcast giant ABS-CBN. We urge the authorities to stop attacking critical media outlets using legal tactics.

Second hearing for one of the most prominent Filipino journalists and Rappler CEO Maria Ressa’s cyber libel case took place today.

Earlier today, Rappler CEO and award winning journalist Maria Ressa was called to court at the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 49 on counts of cyber libel.

Following her arrest yesterday over the already disproven “cyber libel” charges, Maria Ressa got released today with bail by Manila RTC Branch 46 after paying P100,000 (Approx. 2000 USD). The court issued the release order after her bail was posted past noon. The Coalition For Women In Journalism strongly condemns The Philippines government’s attempts to stifle dissent and criticism with groundless accusations against journalists.

We condemn the arrest of our colleague Maria Ressa, who was taken into custody over already disproved “cyber libel”. The Philippine’s government’s attempts to stifle dissent and criticism must come to an end.