The groups
challenging the newly signed Republic Act No. 11479, or or Anti-Terrorism
Act (ATA) of 2020 is gaining ground as members
of the law academe joined forces and has
they have filed their respective petitions assailing its constitutionality.
Albay
representative Edcel Lagman was the second petitioner and first lawmaker to question
the constitutionality of the Republic Act No. 11479, or Anti-Terrorism Act
(ATA) of 2020.
The Makabayan
bloc, led by House Deputy Minority Leader Carlos Zarate (Bayan Muna
party-list), also filed a petition citing the incidents where they were
“victims of terrorist-tagging by State forces.”
(photo credit to Makabayan bloc) |
Lagman and the
Makabayan bloc’s petition is different in the sense that they want the whole Anti-Terrorism
Act to be striked down as unconstitutional for being replete with
constitutional infirmities.
“It was
crafted in imprecise and vague language so much so that there is no certitude
as to what acts the law actually prescribes, thus leaving citizens perplexed on
what to avoid doing, even as its vagueness is conducive to conflicting
interpretations and arbitrary enforcement,” Lagman said.
Lagman and the
representatives of the Makabayan bloc voted no to the passage of the
anti-terrorism bill when it was
being deliberated upon in Congress.
In his
Petition for Certiorari, Lagman said: “[T]he war against suspected terrorists
and the campaign against terrorism cannot be pursued and intensified by
sacrificing human rights, civil liberties and fundamental freedoms which are
enshrined in and protected by the Constitution.”
The Albay representative questions the long period of detention “is
conducive to the person detained being tortured or coerced into involuntary
confession by law enforcers, notwithstanding motherhood declarations of
safeguards. Moreover, prolonged interrogation amounts to mental/psychological
torture under the “Anti-Torture Act of 2009.”
The lawmaker also assailed the criminalization and punishment of
“threat”, “proposal”, and “inciting” to commit terrorism, as this “effectively
restrains people from exercising their freedom of speech to seek redress of
grievances and criticize the government and its officials for fear that their
expression of contrary opinion and legitimate dissent, even outrage, will be
considered criminal acts for which they can be jailed for 12 long years.”
Please like and share our Facebook posts to
support The PH Chronicles.
Do not hesitate to share us your thoughts and opinions
in the comment section below. For more news updates, feel free to visit our
site often.
Stay
updated with today's relevant news and trends by hitting the LIKE button.
Thanks
for dropping by and reading this post.
Report from PhilStar
Disclaimer: Contributed
articles does not reflect the view of THE PH CHRONICLES. This website cannot
guarantee the legitimacy of some of the information contributed to us. You may
do additional research if you find some information doubtful. No part of this
article maybe reproduced without permission from this website.
0 Comments