Several labor groups filed with the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday the ninth petition against the alleged unconstitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 under Republic Act No. 11479.
Just like the eight other petitions, the labor groups also asked the SC to issue a Temporary Restraining Order that would stop the implementation of the new law on July 19.
Specifically, they challenged nine provisions in RA 11479 which they claimed “will have a destructive chilling effect” on the workers’ right to organize and conduct activities to petition the government to address their grievances.
They also said the provisions in the new law would allow the detention of persons on mere suspicion of committing terrorist acts.
The petitioners are the officials and members of the Federation of Free Workers, Nagkaisa Labor Coalition, Church Labor Conference, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Uni Global Union-Philippine Liaison Council, and the Kilusang Artikulo Trese.
Named respondents were the Office of the President, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Office of the Executive Secretary, and the Secretaries of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, Interior and Local Government, Finance, Justice, Information and Communications Technology, and the Executive Director of the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Challenged as reportedly unconstitutional in the petition were Sections 4,5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 25, and 29 which deal, among others, the definition of terrorism; who commits terrorism; preparatory acts in the commission of terrorism; proscription against speeches and other representations that incite others to terrorism; recruitment and membership in terrorist groups; invalid delegation of legislative power; and unreasonable searches, seizures, and detention.
The petitioners told the SC “the vague and overly broad provisions of a law particularly those which are penal in nature such as RA 11479 is a deprivation of the people’s right to due process.”
They also said the warrantless arrest and detention of suspected terrorists are “without doubt, clear and blatant assault” on the constitutional guarantee that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
“While petitioners recognize the efforts of those who sincerely keep our people safe; we strongly oppose the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020…in its present form which runs contrary or repugnant to the Constitution,” they said.
They also pointed out that their “greatest concern is that the unrestrained power given to the Executive department by the assailed law would be an instrument to terrorize the ordinary citizens who are not terrorists – or be used to aggravate the situation of the workers who are already victims of terrorism or terrorist acts.”
The SC is expected to consolidate the newly filed case to the eight petitions lodged the past two weeks.
The first eight cases have been acted upon by the SC which directed the Office of the President and several agencies in the Executive department and the Senate and the House of Representatives to comment on both the petitions and the pleas for TRO.
The petitioners in the first eight cases were the group of lawyer Howard Calleja and former Education Secretary Armin Luistro, Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, the group of Law Dean Mel Sta. Maria and several professors of the Far Eastern University (FEU), the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives led by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, the former head of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel Rudolph Philip B. Jurado, the group of former members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission Christian S. Monsod and Felicitas A. Aquino and their group from the Ateneo Human Rights Center, two labor groups represented by the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) and the Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center (PLACE), and the party-list organization Sanlakas.