Maria Ressa

Maria Angelita Ressa (originally named Maria Angelita Delfin Aycardo) was born in Manila, Philippines, on October 2, 1963. Ressa's father, Manuel Phil Aycardo III, died when she was one year old. She studied at St. Scholastica's College in Manila. Her mother, Hermelina, then moved to the United States, leaving Ressa and her sister with the paternal grandmother, with occasional visits. Subsequently, her mother married an Italian-American man named Peter Ames Ressa and returned to the Philippines. She brought both of her children to New Jersey when Ressa was 10 years old. Ressa was adopted by her stepfather and she took his last name.

Her parents then relocated to Toms River, New Jersey, where she went to Toms River High School North, a public school. Though she barely spoke English when she moved to New Jersey, she went on to be a three-time president of her high school class and a performer in school plays. The school named its newly renovated auditorium after her in 2021.

Ressa's yearbook profile included her dream to conquer the world. Ressa studied at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English and certificates in theater and dance in 1986. Her 77-page-long senior thesis titled "Sagittarius" was an allegorical play about Philippine politics.

She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to study political theater at the University of the Philippines Diliman where she also taught several journalism courses as a faculty member.

Journalism

Ressa's first job was at government station PTV 4. She then co-founded independent production company Probe in 1987 and simultaneously served as CNN's bureau chief in Manila until 1995. She then ran CNN's Jakarta bureau from 1995 to 2005. As CNN's lead investigative reporter in Asia for nearly 20 years, she specialized in investigating terrorist networks.

She became an author-in-residence at the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore for eight months.

From 2004, Ressa headed the news division of ABS-CBN while also writing for CNN and The Wall Street Journal. In September 2010, she wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal criticizing then president Benigno Aquino III's handling of the Manila hostage crisis. This piece was published two weeks before Aquino's official visit to the United States. Speculations were rife that this, among other reasons, finally led to Ressa's leaving the company in 2010 after deciding not to renew her contract.

Ressa is openly lesbian.

In May 2024, US Congresswoman Elise Stefanik accused Ressa of antisemitism based on a Rappler editorial that likened Israel to Hitler. Ressa cofounded Rappler in 2012 and leads it as CEO. An earlier comment Ressa made about "money and power" was also criticized by a Harvard rabbi. Ressa has forcefully denied the antisemitism allegations.

Ressa first interviewed Rodrigo Duterte, 16th president of the Philippines, in the 1980s, when he was mayor of Davao. She again interviewed him in 2015 during his presidential election campaign, when he confessed to killing three people when he was mayor. Under Ressa's leadership, Rappler has been consistently critical of Duterte's policies, especially his policies on the war on drugs, with stories demonstrating that the abuses were being carried out by the police, with Duterte's approval. The website under her stewardship also wrote about the alleged pro-Duterte online "troll army," which, according to the article, was pushing out fake news stories and manipulating the narrative around his presidency.

In July 2017, in his State of the Nation Address, Duterte declared Rappler to be "fully owned" by the Americans and hence in violation of the constitution. He also said, "Not only is Rappler's news fake, it being Filipino is also fake." Subsequently, in August 2017, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated an investigation against Rappler and demanded to check its documents. In January 2018, it revoked Rappler's license to do business. The case went to the court of appeals, where it was remanded back to the SEC for having no basis. Duterte told a Rappler reporter in 2018: "If you are trying to throw garbage at us, then the least that we can do is explain – how about you? Are you also clean?" The government under his leadership revoked the site's operating license.

Arrest and conviction

On January 22, 2018, Ressa appeared before the Philippines' National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to comply with a subpoena over an online libel complaint under the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which the administration of Rodrigo Duterte has wielded to punish criticism of the President and his allies. The subpoena had been issued on January 10 to Ressa, together with former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos and businessman Benjamin Bitanga. The subpoena was filed in October 2017 by a Filipino–Chinese national, Wilfredo Keng, after Rappler published a story on Keng's alleged lending of his sport utility vehicle to now deceased Chief Justice Renato Corona as a bribed form of favor. Though the article was written in 2012, before the act criminalizing cyberlibel was signed into law by Benigno Aquino III, the Department of Justice considered it republished after a typographical error was corrected in 2014. In 2019, human rights lawyers Amal Clooney, Caoilfhionn Gallagher, and Can Yeğinsu joined the legal team (consisting of international and Filipino lawyers) defending Ressa. The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG), which is the main human rights law firm in the Philippines, led by attorney Theodore O. "Ted" Te, managed the legal team of Ressa during her different cases.

In November 2018, the Philippine government announced that it would charge Ressa and Rappler's parent company, Rappler Holdings Corporation, with tax evasion and failure to file tax returns. The charge concerns the investment in Rappler by the Omidyar Network in 2015. Ressa has denied wrongdoing, originally stating that the foreign money was "donated" to its managers, later stating the investments were in the form of securities. Rappler issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. The Bureau of Internal Revenue, after a study of Ressa's explanation, ruled that Rappler's issuance of securities-generated capital gains was taxable. It concluded that Rappler evaded payment amounting to ₱133 million in taxes.

On February 13, 2019, Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch #46 issued the arrest warrant for "cyberlibel" against Ressa for an article published on Rappler. NBI officials fulfilled the warrant filed under the charge of cyberlibel. The "cyberlibel" law got passed after the article was originally published, so the charge was based on the technicality that fixing a typo might be considered "republishing". The arrest was live-streamed on Facebook by many of Rappler's senior reporters.

Due to time constraints, Ressa was unable to post bail amounting to ₱60,000 ($1,150), resulting in her arrest and confinement within the (holding) boardroom office of the NBI building. A total of six lawyers, two of them pro bono, were assigned to work on her case. On February 14, 2019, at the executor proceeding of Manila city judge Maria Teresa Abadilla, Ressa gained freedom by posting bail of ₱100,000 ($1,900).

Ressa's arrest was criticized by the international community. Because Ressa is an outspoken critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, many viewed the arrest as being politically motivated. In contrast, the official spokesperson for the Malacañang Palace denied any government involvement in the arrest, asserting that the lawsuit against Ressa was set forth by a private individual: the plaintiff Wilfredo Keng.

Madeleine Albright, a former U.S. Secretary of State, issued an opinion stating that the arrest "must be condemned by all democratic nations". Similarly, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines called it "a shameless act of persecution by a bully government".

The National Press Club, an organization accused of having close ties to the Duterte regime and with a long history of criticizing the Rappler organization, has stated that the arrest was not harassment and that Ressa should not be relegated to "the altar of press freedom for martyrdom". It also warned against politicizing the issue.

Ressa's trial on charges of cyberlibel began in July 2019. In a statement she made on the first day of her trial, Ressa said, "This case of cyberlibel stretches the rule of law until it breaks."

Ressa was found guilty of cyberlibel on June 15, 2020, in People of the Philippines v. Santos, Ressa and Rappler. under the controversial Anti-Cybercrime law,

In her ruling, Judge Rainelda Estacio-Montesa argued that Rappler "did not offer a scintilla of proof that they verified the imputations of various crimes in the disputed article... They just simply published them as news in their online publication in reckless disregard of whether they are false or not." The judge also quoted Nelson Mandela, saying, "To be free is not merely to cast off one's chains but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." Sheila Coronel, director of the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism at Columbia University, argued that the conviction is representative of "how democracy dies in the 21st century."

Ressa faced six months to six years in prison and a fine of ₱400,000 ($8,000). She warned that her conviction could augur the end of freedom of the press in the Philippines. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque asked the media to "respect the decision" and said Duterte was still committed to free speech; Vice President Leni Robredo described the conviction as a "chilling development," and the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said it "basically kills freedom of speech and of the press." Internationally, the ruling was criticized by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Reporters Without Borders. In its statement condemning the sentence, Reporters Without Borders described the legal proceedings against Ressa as "Kafkaesque".

On January 15, 2023, 12 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including all of the 2022 laureates and her fellow 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov, issued an open letter to President Marcos requesting that he "assist in bringing about a rapid resolution to the unjust charges against Maria Ressa and Rappler."

In January 2023, the Court of Tax Appeals acquitted Ressa and Rappler of four tax evasion charges stemming from the 2018 case. Ressa was acquitted of a fifth tax evasion case in September 2023. Ressa's court conviction for cyberlibel and the SEC's order for Rappler to shut down are under appeal as of September 2023.

The Supreme Court of the Philippines First Division's resolution dated January 24, 2024, granted Irene Khan's Motion for Leave to Intervene, to sit as an "amicus curiae" or chosen Expert, and it also admitted and noted her amicus brief submitted through attorney Rodel Taton. According to Khan's brief, she was "concerned" that the law in the country fails to adequately protect the right to freedom of expression, citing Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which the Philippines is a member. The brief also alleged that the country's Anti-Cybercrime Law "raises serious concerns that it limits the ability of journalists to expose, document and address issues of important public interest, thereby violating the right to receive and impart information." The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute was also permitted to submit its legal opinion "by way of special appearance" through attorney Maria Cristina Yambot, in Ressa and Reynaldo Santos's case.

In her fifth tax evasion case, Ressa was acquitted by the Court of Tax Appeals Second Division in its 17-page judgment promulgated on July 16. It denied SG Menardo Guevarra's certiorari and sustained Pasig RTC Branch 157, Presiding Judge Ana Teresa Cornejo-Tomacruz's junking of the case in September 2023.

On June 13, 2025, Ressa and five other Rappler executives were acquitted by a court in Pasig of violating restrictions on foreigners owning companies under the Anti-Dummy Law. Communication scholar DC Alviar says Ressa and Leila de Lima's acquittals inspire confidence in truly serving the interest of justice, particularly in the case of young journalist Frenchie Mae Cumpio, who has been languishing in jail for years.