THE Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) asked the Supreme Court (SC) for the acquittal of Rappler Chief Executive Officer Maria Ressa and former researcher Reynaldo Santos Jr. in their cyberlibel case.
In a statement, the OSG said it made the recommendation in a Manifestation and Motion filed with the high court on March 9, 2026.
The OSG argued that the filing of a cyberlibel case against Ressa and Santos in 2019 for an article republished in 2014 was already time-barred.
It cited the SC ruling in Berteni Causing v. People, which shortened the prescription period for cyberlibel offenses to one year.
“In Causing, the Supreme Court re-examined the interplay of the cybercrime statute and the Revised Penal Code’s provisions on prescription. 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.
“The Court held that cyber libel prescribes in one year, consistent with Articles 90 and 91 of the Revised Penal Code,” it added.
The cyber libel charged stemmed from a May 2012 article, which linked a businessman to the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was then facing an impeachment trial.
The 2012 article was then republished in 2014 to correct a typographical error, and a cyberlibel case was filed in 2019.
Santos was found liable as author of the article and Ressa as then-executive editor of Rappler. Ressa has since given up the post.
In 2022, Ressa and Santos lost their appeal against a conviction for cyber libel at the Court of Appeals.
“The OSG however underscored that cyber libel is not protected speech. Its penal sanction under existing law remains important, particularly in the digital environment where reputational injury, invasions of privacy, and harm to dignity may be amplified in reach and velocity,” the OSG said.
“The OSG reaffirmed the government’s respect for the independence of the Judiciary and emphasized that it will abide by the Supreme Court’s final disposition of the case,” it added.