SC: Resolving anti-terrorism cases also protecting freedoms, rights

THE Supreme Court (SC) has assured that in resolving cases involving violations of the anti-terrorism law, the judicial rules should be “responsive to the need of protecting individual fundamental freedoms while allowing the State effective law enforcement for the protection of the public.”

In his speech before the participants in the dialogue on the proposed judicial rules on anti-terrorism and counter-terrorism financing cases on Wednesday, Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said “it became imperative to provide for a set of procedural rules to protect the fundamental rights of per

sons and entities from the ill effects brought about by abuses in the implementation of inherently overbroad penal statutes.”

According to Gesmundo, the SC found it necessary to promulgate a procedural framework both to demarcate a zone of legitimacy for acts by law enforcers as well as to delineate judicial reliefs against potential abuses of state agents.

“Creating a procedural framework to balance effective law enforcement and protection of fundamental rights is akin to walking on a legal tightrope,“he stressed.

“Procedures that lean heavily in favor of law enforcement will expose the fundamental rights of persons to the danger of abuses; while those that lean intensely in favor of liberties will expose the population’s lives and safety to the devastating effects of terrorism,” the top magistrate said.

The dialogue is being held in Mandaue City in Cebu until Friday. It is conducted with the help of the Australian Embassy, the United Nations Office on

Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the

Asia Foundation.

Retired Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno is the chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee for the Formulation of the Special Rules of Procedure on Anti-Terrorism Cases. The committee drafted the rules.

It can be recalled that 37 petitions were filed challenging the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 11479, the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020. ATA was enacted on July 3, 2020, and enforced starting July 18, 2020.

On Dec. 7, 2021, the SC handed down a decision which ruled as constitutional almost all the provisions of ATA. The decision became final on April 22, 2022.