Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia Case of Rappler In February 2019, Maria Ressa, journalist and CEO and co-founder of independent news website, ‘Rappler’, was arrested and detained by Philippines’ National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) under charges of cyberlibel under section 4(c)(4) of the CPA. Ressa was released the following day after posting bail of PHP 100,000 (approx. USD 1,951).422 The charges related to a story Rappler had published in May 2012 about Filipino businessman Wilfredo Keng who, five years later, in October 2017 filed a complaint with the NBI against Ressa and other executives of Rappler, alleging that the article had maligned him by linking him with the illegal drug trade and human trafficking.423 Notably, the article was published before the CPA came into force. In February 2018, the NBI dismissed Keng’s complaint on the basis that it had not met the one-year time limit prescribed for the filing of libel cases – as prescribed under the Revised Penal Code. In March 2018, however, the NBI revived Keng’s complaint and filed it with the Department of Justice (DOJ).424 The DOJ thereafter mounted charges against Ressa and former Rappler journalist Reynaldo Santos Jr. – the author of the article – on the grounds that Rappler had made typographical edits to the original article in February 2014, constituting a ‘re-publication’ which came after the enactment of the CPA and which could be seen as a “continuing crime until the libelous article is removed or taken down”.425 The DOJ further clarified that, despite a clear one-year limit prescribed under the Revised Penal Code, the prescriptive time-limit for filing of cyberlibel cases would instead be 12 years, in line with Republic Act No. 3326.426 422 Frontline Defenders, ‘Maria Ressa Arrested on Charges of Cyber Libel, Released on Bail’, Available at: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/maria-ressa-arrested-charges-cyber-libelreleased-bail 423 Ibid. 424 Ibid. 425 Tetch Torres-Tupas, ‘NBI files cyber libel case vs Rappler’, Inquirer.net, 8 March 2018, Available at: https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/973871/nbi-files-cyber-libel-case-vs-rappler-nbi-doj-cyber-libelrappler 426 Lian Buan, ‘DOJ: You can be sued for cyber libel within 12 years of publication’, Rappler, 14 February 2019, Available at: https://www.rappler.com/nation/223517-doj-says-people-can-besued-cyber-libel-12-years-after-publication; Republic Act No. 3326, Available at: http://www. chanrobles.com/acts/actsno3326.html 113