MANILA - The Court of Appeals (CA) has turned down the appeal of Maria Ressa, chief executive officer of online news portal Rappler, and a former writer in connection with their conviction for cyber libel by a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) two years ago. The decision written by Associate Justice Roberto Quiroz and a copy of which was obtained by the Philippine News Agency on Friday modified the lower court's sentence imposed on Ressa and former writer Reynaldo Santos Jr. to an indeterminate penalty of imprisonment ranging from six months and one day to six years, eight months and 20 days. The CA quoted Supreme Court precedents that "this case comes at a time when the credibility of journalists is needed more than ever, when their tried-and-tested practice of adhering to their own code of ethics becomes more necessary, so that their truth may provide a stronger bulwark against the recklessness in social media. Respondents, then, should have been more circumspect in what the