Leaders of various churches, a coalition of women’s organizations, and members of non-governmental law groups asked the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday to declare as unconstitutional the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) in its entirety.
They also asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order that will stop the implementation of ATA under Republic Act No. 11479 that started last July 18.
Leaders of churches led by Catholic Bishop Broderick S. Pabillo filed their petition, numbered 252767, at 9:53 a.m. It pointed out that “if such law authorizes patent violations of the people’s fundamental liberties on the basis of its nebulous description of the actions that it seeks to prevent, it must be struck down as a direct transgression of the Constitution.”
In justifying their petition, the church leaders told the SC that they “…have set to do what we ought to do… our share to make this country a humane place to live in.”“The Honorable Court must have heard of people active in social advocacies who are accused of being communists. Even bishops, priests, and the religious were included among those charged by the Philippine National Police with crimes of sedition and inciting to sedition, solely because of their social advocacies,” they said.
Named respondents in their petition were the President, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the chairperson of the Anti-Terrorism Council . At the same time, RA 11479 in its entirety “violates the constitutionally protected right to speech, expression and association, and other liberties.”
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