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The Court of Appeals (CA) has denied the offer of Maria Ressa, executive director of Rappler, to travel to the United States to visit her sick mother.
In a Dec.18 ruling, the 12th Special Division said Ressa was unable to prove that the trip was “necessary and urgent” and that there were “exceptional circumstances” sufficient to restrict his right to travel.
Ressa had asked the CA to allow her to visit her 76-year-old mother who was diagnosed with breast cancer last October.
This is the third time that the CA, which is handling Ressa’s appeal of her conviction for cyber libel last June, has banned the journalist from leaving the country.
Previously, the court barred Ressa from going to the US to participate in conferences and receive an award.
Four other courts have allowed Ressa to travel.
In its new resolution, the CA cited a Supreme Court ruling saying that a conviction “justifies the exercise of greater caution in allowing a person admitted on bail to leave the Philippines.”
It also considered Ressa’s latest motion to travel as a “continuation” of his second motion, which the court had already definitively dismissed. The CA said this means that the last motion amounts to a second prohibited motion for reconsideration.
The competent authority added that the medical summary has no indication that Ressa is “urgently needed” in the United States.
“Above all, the document shows that her mother was seen by telemedicine, which literally means remote healing. In addition, the doctor who treated her testified that her mother tolerated well the procedure that was performed on her,” the court said.
He also said that Ressa’s motion included an undisclosed itinerary.
The resolution was drafted by Associate Judge Geraldine Fiel-Macaraig, with the concurrence of Associate Judges Danton Bueser and Carlito Calpatura.
Ressa has filed a motion for reconsideration with the CA.
“The appellant still wishes to travel to the United States to see her mother and father. Under the circumstances, the request is not trivial, since the humanitarian reasons that support the request persist,” she said through her Free Legal Assistance attorneys. Group.—AOL, GMA News
