Metro Manila, Philippines – The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has recommended the acquittal of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and colleague Reynaldo Santos Jr. in the cyber libel case filed against them.
The OSG on Tuesday said it submitted to the Supreme Court a manifestation and motion dated March 9.
Citing the case of Berteni Cataluña Causing v. People, which shortened the prescriptive period for cyber libel offenses to one year, the OSG said the case against Ressa and Santos is “time-barred.”
Ressa and Santos were found guilty of cyber libel by the Manila Regional Trial Court in 2020 over a Rappler story originally published in 2012 and updated in 2014, which the complainant said he discovered in 2016.
The article reported the alleged involvement of a Filipino business tycoon in “human trafficking and drug smuggling.”
“The Court adopted a limiting principle that fixes a definite, predictable period, reckoned from discovery by the offended party, the authorities, or their agents,” the OSG said in a statement, citing the Causing case, which held that cyber libel prescribes in one year under Articles 90 and 91 of the Revised Penal Code.
“Although the OSG previously sought reconsideration in Causing, it manifested in a filing also made on March 9, 2026, that the government now accepts the Court’s decision as it provides a workable and predictable limiting principle on prescription,” it added.
The OSG noted that the Causing ruling may be applied to the case of Ressa and Santos.
The office reiterated that cyber libel is “not protected speech” and reminded the public of the law’s importance in the digital age.
It said the government’s recommendation to acquit Ressa and Santos is grounded in law and duty.
Referring to itself as the “people’s tribune,” the OSG also reaffirmed that it will respect the Supreme Court’s final ruling on the case.
