CA allows Maria Ressa to receive Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo

The Court of Appeals (CA) on Friday allowed Rappler CEO Maria Ressa to travel to Oslo to receive her Nobel Peace Prize.

In a resolution, the CA Special Seventh Division granted Ressa’s request, but she must first return to the Philippines from the United States before jetting off to Norway’s capital. 

Her previous cash bond of P500,000 shall be applied as travel bond for purposes of her Oslo trip from December 8 to 13.

She was also required to inform the CA of her return to the Philippines within 24 hours from arrival on December 13.

“Considering that Ressa has proved that her intended travel is necessary and urgent, and she is not a flight risk, there is no reason to deny the urgent motion to travel abroad,” the CA said through Associate Justice Geraldine Fiel Macaraig.

Ressa has already received permission from a regional trial court hearing another case, according to Francis Lim, one of her lawyers.

She is still waiting for the Court of Tax Appeals to rule on her travel application, but Lim said: "We are confident that it will be granted."

In November, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) argued that it was not necessary for Ressa, who shared the honor with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, to be physically present at the awarding ceremony on December 10.

However, the CA said the invitation sent by the Norwegian Nobel Institute clearly indicated that the ceremony would be conducted physically and that Ressa was expected to receive the prestigious award in person.

“In fact, there is no option for her to virtually receive the award, or through a representative,” the resolution stated. 

The OSG had argued that Ressa could participate in the event through videoconferencing and other technological applications, as it insisted that she was a flight risk.

“In our October 18, 2021 resolution, we had already ruled that Ressa is not a flight risk. This remains true even after she filed this urgent motion to travel abroad,” the CA said.

“Notably, the prosecution failed to present, or even allege, any supervening event to set aside such finding.”

Ressa has been a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte and his government's policies, including a drug war that has killed thousands.

Since Duterte was swept to power in 2016, Ressa and Rappler have endured what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, investigations and online attacks.

She faces a total of seven court cases, including the appeal before the CA against a conviction in the cyber libel case, for which she faces up to six years in prison. — with a report from Agence France-Presse/VBL, GMA News