Court of Appeals denies travel bid of Ressa to US

August 20, 2020

The Court of Appeals denied the plea of Rappler’s chief executive officer Maria Ressa to travel to the United States for failure to say this is urgent.

In a resolution Wednesday, the CA’s Special Fourteenth Division turned down Ressa’s very urgent motion for permission to travel.

Ressa sought permission from the appellate court to travel from August 6 to Sept. 1 and secondly, from Aug. 23 to Sept. 19.

The Court of appeals said  Ressa “failed to show the necessity and urgency of her intended travel to the USA.''

In her motion, Ressa, who had been found guilty by Manila City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 46 and Rappler’s former researcher-writer Reynaldo Santos guilty of cyber libel, asked the court to allow her to attend several events including the theatrical release and panel discussions of the documentary “A Thousand Cuts” in the US.

Ressa would be conferred with the 2020 International Press Freedom Award Honoree” from the National Press Club on Aug. 24 in Washington, D.C.

The court said Ressa has not presented other evidence to warrant her presence at the theatrical release of the documentary, nor did she show  enough evidence to justify her intention to receive the award from the National Press Club.

“To reiterate, Ressa bears the burden of proving that her intended travel is necessary and urgent,” the appellate court said. DMS