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‘A stab to the heart of the Constitution,’ petitioners say of recent killings of civilians
“The attacks on Atty. Guillen and the Southern Luzon activists are not just a condemnable assault on a member of the legal profession and civil society actors, but also a stab to the heart of the Constitution. Petitioners and their counsel ultimately wish to underline the foregoing as part of the general societal context that engendered the assailed law.”
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
SC urged to address attacks on lawyers, stop implementation of anti-terror law
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 2) Instead of passing an Anti-Terrorism law that critics argue is unconstitutional, the State should have focused on improving deficient police and intelligence performance, a counsel for petitioners against the measure said on Tuesday.
On Day 4 of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments on the assailed measure, petitioners’ lawyer and former Solicitor General Jose Anselmo Cadiz said the Human Security Act of 2007 which was repealed by the new law was enough to deter terrorism.
“If I may clarify, what is really lacking is good police work and good intelligence work,” he told Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda during an interpellation. “I think these are solely lacking in our jurisdiction.”
Philippines lacks ‘good’ police work, intelligence in fighting terrorism petitioners By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News
Published March 2, 2021 6:37pm Opponents of the anti-terror law said Tuesday the Philippines should improve its defense against terrorism as they reiterated their plea to the Supreme Court (SC) to scrap the measure due to alleged constitutional infirmities. Jose Anselmo Cadiz, counsel for some of the petitioners, told the high court that any law “which contradicts the Constitution must be struck down and that is what the anti-terror law is all about.” “What is really lacking is good police work and good intelligence work. I think these are sorely lacking in our jurisdiction,” said Cadiz, a former solicitor general, when asked by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda whether there was a need for the Philippines to have an anti-terror legislation.
(Photo courtesy of Save Our Schools Network)
In a joint statement, Save Our Schools Network (SOSN) and Sabokahan Unity of Lumad Women said that, since July 2020, the lumad, Moro, and other national minority individuals and organizations have been filing petitions to question the constitutionality of the anti-terror law.
The groups added that the anti-terror law targets indigenous peoples and their advocates, citing the arrest of two Aeta evacuees Japer Gurung and Junior Ramos, who were both falsely charged with “terrorism” in November 2020.
Arms and explosives were allegedly seized from Gurung and Ramos.
“Since the implementation of anti-terror law, we have seen heightened attacks against individuals, organizations, and schools that are committed to empowering Lumad youth to defend their ancestral lands. It is the government’s association between ‘terrorism’ and environmental and education advocacy that forces us to fear for our students’ and fellow teachers’ secu
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