00:00In the meantime, the resolution of Maria Reza's remaining cyber libel case has taken a step closer to closure and
00:07finality within the office of the Solicitor General's endorsement to acquit her and her co-accused in a pleading filed
00:14with the Supreme Court yesterday.
00:16In her motion to acquit, Solicitor General Attorney Darlene Beribrabe cited the statute of limitations has run out on the
00:24cyber libel rap filed by the petitioner or plaintiff in 2019 over an allegedly libelous online article written in 2014.
00:34The statute of limitations on cyber libel or the prescriptive period to file discharge under civil law had already lapsed
00:43or exceeded the one-year timeline.
00:45In 2020, Reza and her co-accused Reynaldo Santos Jr. were convicted and sentenced to six years in the slammer,
00:54which an appeals court upheld and then elevated to the Supreme Court for final adjudication.
00:59The legal challenges she faced were widely viewed as politically encouraged, given Rappler's critical reporting of the Duterte administration.
01:09With the Supreme Court's decision on the case pending, the OSG's endorsement for dismissal or acquittal is seen as a
01:17major and positive step toward Reza's exoneration.
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