There are now 37 petitions filed with the Supreme Court (SC) by various groups and individuals against the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 or Republic Act No. 11479 that was signed into law by President Duterte last July 3.
Thirty-six petitions have been officially docketed as of October 2 based on the list obtained from the SC’s judicial records office.
One of the two petitions that were coursed through the post office has not been officially docketed. The petitioners in that undocketed case may have not complied with requirements like payment of docket fees.
Undocketed was the petition filed by the Anak Mindanao Party List represented by Amihilda Sangcopan. It was coursed through the post office together with the petition filed by Haroun Alrashid Alonto Lucman and his group.
All the petitions pleaded the SC to declare RA 11479 unconstitutional, in part or in its entirety. Most of the petitioners pleaded for the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would stop the implementation of RA 11479 which started last July 18.
The SC has decided to consolidate all the petitions into one case which will be resolved by its full court or en banc.
It has required all respondents to comment on both the petitions and the pleas for TRO.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), in its comment in earlier petitions, has asked the SC to dismiss the cases. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the OSG has also pleaded for the cancellation of the oral arguments earlier announced by the SC.
But the SC has not acted on the OSG’s motion to cancel oral arguments that has been opposed by several petitioners.
Based on the list, the officially docketed petitions against ATA as of last October 2 were those filed by:
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 Integrated Bar of the Philippines, 253124.
Coordinating Council for People Development and Governance, Inc., 253242; Philippine Misereor Partnership, Inc., 253252; Pagkakaisa ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan, 253254; and Haroun Alrashid Alonte Lucman Jr., 253420.