Maria Ressa, Philippine Journalist and Nobel Laureate, Is Acquitted of Tax Evasion

MANILA — The journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa was acquitted of tax evasion on Wednesday, a rare victory after numerous setbacks in her fight to keep publishing her news site Rappler, whose run-ins with the authorities have become emblematic of the Philippines’ declining press freedoms.

A Philippine court acquitted Ms. Ressa on all four charges against her. She would have faced a maximum sentence of 34 years if convicted. Rappler had also faced four charges and was acquitted.

Outside the courthouse in Manila, the capital, Ms. Ressa was visibly relieved and emotional after the verdict. Asked what it meant to her, she replied: “Hope. That is what it provides.”

“We need independent media to hold power to account,” she added.

The case was the first high-profile test of whether the legal troubles facing Ms. Ressa and Rappler would continue under the Philippines’ new president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who has benefited from online disinformation and tried to play down the brutality of his father’s dictatorship decades ago. Advocates had urged Mr. Marcos to demonstrate his stated commitment to a free press by intervening in Ms. Ressa’s favor.

The authorities began taking action against Ms. Ressa and Rappler during the administration of Mr. Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, as the news organization was aggressively covering Mr. Duterte’s bloody campaign against drugs. That coverage helped Ms. Ressa win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021.

There are several other cases pending against Ms. Ressa, an outspoken critic of both presidents, and her news site. She is appealing her June 2020 conviction on a cyber libel charge, under which she could face six years in prison. The Philippines’ top court is expected to rule on that case