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MANILA, Philippines – The camp of journalist Maria Ressa, who is also the executive director of the online site Rappler, filed a motion to overturn the other cyber defamation case brought against her by businessman Wilfredo Keng.
In the 10-page motion prepared by the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), Ressa’s group contends that the only parts of the tweet made by Ressa were an introduction to an old Philstar.com article, none of which, they said, was defamatory. in nature.
Ressa’s tweet, FLAG says, does not violate cyber defamation provisions under Republic Law No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
“The information against the defendant is based on a tweet that: (a) has independent author content that is not defamatory, and also (b) shares author’s content of another that is objected as defamatory,” FLAG attorneys Theodore Te and Maria Carmela Maranan in Wednesday’s petition.
“It is the latter content, made by PhilStar.com, that has been previously objected by the private whistleblower as defamatory,” they added.
They also pointed out that the Philstar.com that Ressa referred to was not written by Ressa, which means that she also did not help in the crime of cyber defamation.
“Clearly, based on the facts stated in the Information itself, there is no basis to conclude that there is a crime, not Cyberlibel under Section 4 (c) (4) because Ms. Ressa is not the author of the RT’d or shared article, and not “Help or gamble” under Section 5 in relation to Section 4 (c) (4) because it has been declared unconstitutional, ”the attorneys noted.
This is not the first cyber defamation case brought by Keng against Ressa: In June 2020, Manila Regional First Instance Court Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa testified Ressa and former Rappler investigator and writer Reynaldo Santos Jr guilty of violating cyber defamation, according to a 2012 article that claimed that Keng loaned his sport utility vehicle to former Supreme Court Chief Renato Corona.
The story alleged that Keng had been under surveillance for alleged involvement in human trafficking and drug trafficking.
This other cyber defamation charge, filed by Keng in February 2020, focuses on the tweet that Ressa made in 2019. The part that Ressa wrote reads:
Here’s the 2002 article on the ‘private businessman’ who brought the cyberlibel case, which was dismissed by the NBI and later revived by the DOJ. # Hold the line “
The first cyber defamation complaint, for the story published by Rappler, was filed by Keng in 2017 or five years after its publication. [ac]
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