Two among the 32 groups of petitioners challenging the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 pressed the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) which will stop the implementation of the law that started July 18.
The two groups also opposed the move of the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), which represents most of the cases for the government, to cancel the oral arguments set by the SC before the end of this month.
There are 32 officially docketed petitions against the ATA. However, there are two other petitions coursed through the post office in Mindanao which have not been received officially by the SC.
Those who pressed for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and opposed the cancellation of the oral arguments were the groups of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), the 11th group of petitioners, and the one led by Lemuel Gio Fernandez Cayabyab of the Sangguning Kabataan in San Carlos City, Pangasinan, the 27th group of petitioners.
They filed a joint opposition and a joint urgent motion through the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) led by Edre U. Olalia.
In the case of the Bayan group, it told the SC that its members “are facing credible threats of prosecution and other punitive actions under Republic Act No, 11479 “ (the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020).
It claimed that its members “continue to be terrorist labeled, particularly by the officers of the omnipresent National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).”
“Members of the mass organizations affiliated with Bayan have been subjected to surveillance and have received death threats or red-tagging publications, which were circulated in public places and official media platforms of NTF-ELCAC and the Philippine National Police,” the group said.
In the case of the members of the Sangguniang Kabataan led by Cayabyab, the SC was told they cannot be compelled to cooperate with the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) “where the mandate of said council is premised on an invalid law.”
In opposing the move to cancel oral arguments, the two groups said “the unprecedented number of petitions filed to invalidate RA 11479 – at least 32 as of this writing – only indicates the transcendental importance of these cases.”
Thus, they said, “the oral arguments should be held.”
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Solicitor General Jose C. Calida had asked the SC to cancel the oral arguments.
In lieu of oral arguments, the OSG proposed the submission of written memoranda from parties and written answers to the clarificatory questions which should be known in a resolution to be issued by the SC.
Calida’s suggestion, contained in an official pleading, has not been acted upon by the SC.
Based on the list given by the SC’s public information office (PIO), the officially docketed petitions were those filed by:
The group of lawyer Howard Calleja and former education secretary Armin Luistro, under docket number 252258; Rep. Edcel C. Lagman, 252579; the group of Law Dean Mel Sta. Maria and several professors of the Far Eastern University (FEU), 252580;
The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives led by Bayan Muna Party-List Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, 252585; the former head of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel Rudolph Philip B. Jurado, 252613;
Two labor groups represented by the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) and the Pro-Labor Legal Assistance Center (PLACE), 252623; 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, 252624;
Party-List organization Sanlakas, 252646; several labor groups led by the Federation of Free Workers, 252702; Ferrer, 252726; the group of cause-oriented and advocacy organizations led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, 252733; the group of former SC Associate Justices Antonio T. Carpio and Conchita Carpio Morales, 252736;
The group of Ma. Ceres Doyo and former Constitutional Commission members Florangel Rosario Braid and Professor Edmundo Garcia, 252741; National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, 252747; Kabataang Tagapagtanggol ng Karapatan, 252755; and the group of Algamar Latiph, 252759.
Bishop Broderick Pabillo, 252767; GABRIELA, 252768; Lawrence Yerbo, Undocketed, 16663; Henry Abendan, 252802; Concerned Online Citizens, 253809; Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties, 252903; Beverly Longid, 252904; Center for International Law, 252905.
Main T. Mohammad, 252916; Sangguniang Kabataan Chairperson Semuel Gio Fernandez Cayabyab, 252921; Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, 252984; UP System Faculty Regent Dr. Ramon Guillermo, 253018; Philippine Bar Association, 253100; Balay Rehabilitation Center, Inc., 253118; and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, 253124.
Not yet docketed as of Monday, Sept. 14, and mailed in Mindanao more than a month ago were two petitions filed separately by the groups of Deputy House Speaker Mujiv Hataman and several Mindanaoans.