There are now 16 cases filed against the alleged unconstitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) that was signed into law by President Duterte last July 3 and implemented 15 days later on July 18.
Supreme Court (SC) Spokesperson and head of the public information office (PIO) Atty. Brian Keith F. Hosaka said there was also a petition filed by Jose Ferrer Jr.
A copy of Ferrer’s petition was not available and, thus, the date of filing could not be ascertained.
On Thursday, July 23, four more petitions were filed with the SC against ATA under Republic Act No. l1148.
The four new cases asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop ATA’s implementation.
Based on the list given by the SC’s PIO, the petitioners in the 16 filed cases were:
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; the 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.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has filed its comment on the first four cases as required by the SC.
It was not known immediately if the House of Representatives and the Senate, which were also named respondents in most of the cases, have filed their comments.