The Supreme Court (SC) is set to resume starting at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 27, the oral arguments on 37 petitions which challenged the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).
The legal debates, however, will be done online through the Zoom platform in SC’s efforts to prevent the spread of the dread coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Set to present the government’s arguments is Solicitor General Jose C. Calida.
It is expected that Calida will exert efforts to convince the SC justices to dismiss the petitions against ATA which was passed into law on July 3, 2020 and implemented 15 days later last July 18.
In an advisory, the SC said that only the justices, two amici curiae (friends of the court), three lawyers each from the 37 petitioners, and seven lawyers from the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) will be allowed to participate online.
Only the SC’s public information office (PIO) was allowed “to do continuous live streaming of the oral arguments via YouTube.” The streaming, however, is limited to an audio feed.
Last April 8, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo announced the resumption of oral arguments on ATA two weeks after the lifting of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region and the four adjacent provinces.
ECQ was lifted in the NCR and in four provinces last April 11. These areas were placed under modified ECQ (MECQ) until April 30.
Last Feb. 2, the SC started conducting oral arguments on the 37 petitions which have been consolidated into one case. Since then, only the petitioners have presented their arguments.
The arguments had been postponed several times due to the rising incidents of COVID-19 infections.