Maria Ressa now in US for Harvard program, to visit parents in Florida
FILIPINO AMERICAN journalist MARIA RESSA in a file photo.
The CA issued the resolution on Oct. 18, days after Ressa’s historic recognition as the first Nobel laureate from the Philippines, sharing the award with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, for her “efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.”
In a 14-page resolution, CA Associate Justice Geraldine Fiel-Macaraig said Ressa was able to prove the necessity and urgency of her travel, citing the invitation letter from the Center for Public Leadership and Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School.
The invitation letter from Harvard said the program requires her physical presence for 30 days.
“Certainly, one’s legitimate intention to be reunited with her/his parents cannot be doubted,” it said.
In December last year, the same court blocked Ressa’s bid to visit her ailing mother who was due for an operation, saying she failed to prove the necessity and urgency of her travel.
Fiel-Macaraig said then that the medical abstract of Ressa’s mother, who had just been diagnosed with breast cancer, lacks indication that Ressa was urgently needed in the US.
