Rappler CEO Maria Ressa. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File
MANILA — The Supreme Court has authorized journalist Maria Ressa to travel abroad for most of June 2023 to attend speaking engagements, the high court's public information office said Tuesday.
Ressa, the Rappler CEO and Nobel Peace Prize winner, has been allowed to travel to Italy, Singapore, the United States, and Taiwan over a 26-day period, or from June 4 to 29, subject to conditions.
Aside from a cash bond of P100,000, she was ordered to observe the sub judice rule and abstain from making public comments or discussions about her pending cases before the courts.
Ressa still faces 3 other criminal cases, including a cyber libel conviction currently on appeal, for which she could face nearly seven years in prison.
However, in a rare win, Ressa and her media company Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC) were acquitted earlier this year by the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) on 4 counts of tax-related charges.
The CTA First Division found Ressa and RHC not guilty on three counts of failure to supply the correct information and one count of tax evasion, amounting to P141 million worth of taxes, including surcharge and interest.
This is so far the second time that the high tribunal has allowed Ressa to travel overseas this year.
Last March, she was permitted to go abroad over a 20-day period, or from March 13 to April 1, 2023, to also attend several speaking engagements.
—with a report from Agence France-Presse