Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 8) – The second division of the Court of Tax Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision to prevent Rappler chief executive officer and journalist Maria Ressa from travelling to the United States due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ressa, who is facing several charges, earlier asked permission from the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) to allow her to travel from Aug. 1 to 30 to support the release of a documentary and attend some conferences and interviews.
RTC Branch 157 Judge Ana Teresa Cornejo-Tomacruz rejected Ressa’s request on July 27 citing the pandemic lockdown. This prompted Ressa to file a motion for certiorari against the judge for alleged grave abuse of discretion.
In a 40-page resolution upholding the decision of the Pasig City RTC Branch, the CTA noted that circumstances have changed since Ressa last went abroad in March. It cited Tomacruz’s order that Ressa “may be forced by circumstances to remain abroad” while she has pending cases.
“The circumstances that were prevailing before the pandemic when the petitioner was granted leave to travel are no longer true,” read the resolution signed by Associate Justices Juanito Castaneda Jr. and Jean Marie Bacorro-Villena.
“These circumstances directly bear upon the issue whether the petitioner can physically return to the Philippines to continue her trial if she goes abroad,” it added.
The CTA pointed out that the right to travel is guaranteed by the Constitution, and that Ressa’s cyber libel conviction should not be a reason to stop her from going abroad.
“(Ressa’s) conviction in the cyber libel case alone is not sufficient justification for the court a quo to prevent her from attending to her professional engagements outside the country,” the tax court said.
But it added that the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act and the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act have restricted local and foreign travels.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeals also denied Ressa’s motion saying the travel was not urgent. It also cited her conviction that “warrants the exercise of greater caution in allowing a person admitted to bail from leaving the Philippines.”
Ressa was granted by courts to leave the country 34 times since 2018.
She is facing tax evasion charges before the Pasig City Regional Trial Court.
She was also convicted of cyber libel by the Manila Regional Trial Court.
