On Wednesday, March 2, twenty-six petitioners represented by the Free Legal Assistance Group filed a joint motion for partial reconsideration before the Supreme Court to review its December 7 ruling and declare Republic Act 11479 or Anti-Terror Act (ATA) as unconstitutional.
Last December 7, 2021, the Supreme Court voted 12-3 declaring Sections 4 and 25 of the ATA unconstitutional while upholding the law in whole. The Court particularly asserted that Section 4 is too broad and violates the people’s right to freedom of expression.
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However, petitioners argue how this ruling is merely consolatory given that the SC still upheld most of the contentious and unconstitutional provisions of the law.
The petitioners asked the high court to “take an even closer look” at the content of the Anti-Terrorism Law.
One of which is Section 25, a provision that grants the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) authority to designate individuals as terrorists. This also allows law enforcers and military personnel to arrest these designated terrorists even without a warrant and to detain them for a maximum of 24 days.
Since the enactment of the law, the ATC declared certain individuals alleged to be high-ranking leaders of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, and consultants and allied organizations of the National Democratic Front.
Petitioners specifically cited Lumad rights activist and volunteer teacher Chad Booc’s case, who had been red-tagged for years and reached his demise, alongside four other people, in an alleged “encounter” with the New People’s Army.
Booc is also a petitioner against the ATA which was reported to be abducted and allegedly tortured with four other companions by elements from the 10th Infantry Division while conducting community work in New Bataan, Davao de Oro last February 24.
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“Kapag dinesignate kang terrorist kahit walang kabatay-batay. Si Chad isang guro, kilala ko si Chad, hindi siya armado, hindi siya NPA. Consistent siya sa kanyang pagmamahal sa mga Lumad,” Law Dean Tony La Viña, who was one of the petitioners, said in a press conference.
They pointed out how there are no clear criteria for designating terrorists and designees are also not given chance to present their evidence as a way to defend themselves, making ATA open for abuse by state security forces. Once designated as a terrorist, you are “vulnerable to arrest and detention,” they added.
Son of dictator and presidential frontrunner Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. declared he openly supports the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). This task force is a part of the Duterte administration’s counterinsurgency program. However, it is being denounced due to corruption, red tagging, and state-sponsored arrest and killings.
“We are being silenced and we cannot just imagine another Duterte or Marcos would be in position and we have the anti-terror law. All the more that the definition of terrorism should be well-defined,” stressed women’s rights lawyer Atty. Virginia Suarez.
#JunkTerrorLaw
#AbolishNTFELCAC
Featured image courtesy of Kodao Productions
