The Supreme Court (SC) has declared the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 constitutional except for two provisions in the most assailed legislation so far.
Declared unconstitutional in ATA, under Republic Act No. 11479 which was enacted on July 3, 2020 and enforced starting July 18, 2020, were:
“The qualifier to the proviso in Section 4 of RA 11479, i.e., ‘... which are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a person’s life, or to create a serious risk to public safety’ by a vote of 12-3 is declared as unconstitutional for being overbroad and violative of freedom of expression.
“The second method for designation in Section 25 paragraph 2 of RA 11479, i.e., ‘Request for designation by other jurisdictions or supranational jurisdictions may be adopted by the ATC (Anti-Terrorism Council) after determination that the proposed designee meets the criteria for designation of UNSCR (United Nations Security Council Resolution) No. 1373’ is declared unconstitutional by a vote of 9-6.
The SC ruled that “on the basis of the current petitions, all the other challenged provisions of RA 11479 are not unconstitutional.”
It also said that “the main ponencia (decision) and the various opinions contain interpretations of some of the provisions declared in these cases as not unconstitutional”
”The parties and the public are advised to wait the publication and read the decision and the separate opinions for the explanation of the votes,” it added.