Rappler CEO Maria Ressa Pleads Not Guilty To Fifth Tax Evasion Case

Rappler’s Maria Ressa Pleads ‘Not Guilty’ To Fifth Tax Case

RAPPLER – One of the most well-regarded journalists in the world, Maria Ressa pleaded not guilty to her tax evasion case.

Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa is one of the most prominent journalists in the Philippines. In 2018, she was included in Time magazines’ Person of the Year for fighting media intimidation.

The 56-year-old CEO is the second Pinoy to receive the title after former President Cory Aquino. She faced several government lawsuits that caused international concern. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte called Rapper a “fake news outlet” and was sponsored by Americans.

On Wednesday, July 22, the veteran journalist appeared before Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 257. She allegedly failed to supply the correct information to her new site’s value-added tax (VAT) return for the 2nd quarter of 2015. Based on a report from ABS-CBN, it is the only tax case against Rappler and Ressa not handled by the Court of Tax Appeals.

Rappler-CEO-Maria-Ressa — Photo Source: ABS-CBN

According to the report, Maria Ressa pleaded “not guilty” to her 5th tax evasion charge before a Pasig court. She said she paid the Same Pasig court around 1 million pesos travel bond in total.

“The irony here is just for travel bond in this court, which has had different judges to be fair, I’ve already paid a million pesos to be allowed, to be free to travel, to this court…There was one I wasn’t even gone overnight last year and I had to pay half a million pesos in travel bond. This is now, a million pesos is now in this court for my travel bond for an alleged P200,000 violation…”

“We’ll fight every step of the way because we will hold the line. I’m not voluntarily gonna give up my rights,” she added.