A PASIG City Regional Trial Court (RTC) has returned to the prosecutors for preliminary investigation the case involving online news site Rappler’s officials for alleged violation of the Securities and Regulation Code (SRC).

In a nine-page order dated Oct. 8, Judge Elma M. Rafallo-Lingan of Pasig RTC Branch 195 said the “undue haste in the transmittal of records” to the court by the city’s prosecutor’s office violates the rights to due process of the accused.

“When the accused were deprived of this right, there is a denial of the right to a full preliminary investigation preparatory to the filing of the Information,” the order read.

Charged for violation of Section 26.1 (Fraudulent Transactions), in relation to Section 73 of the SRC are Rappler Chief Executive Officer and Executive Editor Maria A. Ressa, Managing Editor Glenda M. Gloria, and 2016 directors Manuel I. Ayala, Nico Jose Nolledo, James C. Bitanga, Felicia Atienza, and James Velasquez.

In a joint motion filed earlier, Mses. Ressa and Gloria noted that the Pasig City prosecutor’s office furnished the resolution of their indictment after office hours of March 25 while Ms. Gloria received a copy at noon the next day.

The others accused were not served with a copy of the resolution.

The Information was filed before the court at 2:45 p.m. on the same day despite a motion from the accused to defer its transmittal to court.

They also claimed that they were not notified of their case for violation of the SRC, and were only informed about charges for violation of the Anti-Dummy Law and Section 2 of Presidential Decree 1018, which states that mass media should be owned by Filipinos, and Section 7 in relation to Section 14 of Republic Act 7042 or the Foreign Investments Act of 1991.

The accused filed their respective motions for reconsideration, but the prosecutor’s office denied these in a consolidated resolution on May 7.

The Pasig judge also said in the order that “in the interest of justice, the Court finds it proper to remand the case to the OCP (Office of the City Prosecutor)-Pasig for the conduct of preliminary investigation, relative to the charge of violation of Section 26.1, in relation to Section 73 of the Securities Regulation Code.”

The court also consolidated the SRC case with the Anti-Dummy Law case before RTC Branch 265, where proceedings are currently suspended and been deferred.

The court also reduced the bail of Mses. Ressa and Gloria from P126,000 to P63,000 and Ms. Ressa’s travel bond from P100,000 to P50,000.

The case stems from the alleged fraudulent transaction Rappler entered into with the issuance of Philippine Depositary Receipts to investing firm Omidyar Network Fund in 2015.

Omidyar Network donated its PDRs worth $1.5 million to Rappler staff in February last year after the Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision in January 2018 revoking the news site’s certificate of incorporation and declaring void the PDRs for being a “fraudulent transaction.” — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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