THE lawyer of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa welcomed the withdrawal of a second cyber libel case against his client even as she was "prepared to face and rebut the charge." "The order of Judge Soriano to dismiss the case is a welcome development. Ressa had linked businessman Wilfredo Keng to the death of former Manila Councilor Chika Go. With his close association with the Duterte administration after he filed cyber libel cases against Rappler and Ressa, Cruz said that Keng was not comfortable being tagged as a "tool of the government". Ressa and former Rappler staffer Reynaldo Santos Jr. were convicted by the Manila Regional Trial Court for cyber libel in June 2020 for an article on the news site linking Keng to the late chief justice Renato Corona.

Source: Manila Times June 03, 2021 11:31 UTC