Embattled journalist Maria Ressa will continue to face the multiple tax聽cases against her after the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) scheduled her arraignment for April and denied her appeal to suspend proceedings.
The resolution released today and dated March 21 set Ressa’s arraignment for April 3, Wednesday, at 8:30am,聽Christine聽Luna of the CTA’s First Division confirmed to聽黑料社 Manila.
This is in聽connection to four tax cases involving聽Rappler Holding鈥檚 Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDR) issued to the foreign investor聽Omidyar. PDRs allow foreign companies to invest in local ones without having ownership.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) had said that issuing the PDRs to Omidyar constitutes as selling securities, alleging that Rappler from them.
As the CEO of Rappler, Ressa is facing one count of tax evasion and three counts for allegedly declaring incorrect and inaccurate information on the company’s income tax return in 2015 and value-added tax聽returns聽in the聽3rd and 4th quarters of the same year.
In February, the CTA denied Ressa’s move but according to Rappler, she later while her petition for review at the DOJ was still pending.
Apart from the four cases at the CTA, Ressa also has a separate administrative case pending in the Pasig City Regional Trial Court.
Ressa and Rappler have been slapped with various cases starting January last year when its聽license was revoked by the聽Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly violating聽constitutional restrictions on ownership and control of mass media entities.
The SEC said funds coming from Omidyar constituted as foreign ownership — which is against Philippine law — even though they were made through PDRs.
Ressa was also arrested in February for a charge of cyber libel.
Many believe that these cases are politically motivated, especially聽because President Rodrigo Duterte has spoken out against Rappler’s criticisms of his administration.
