ACT to appeal CA ruling on PNP profiling

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) will appeal the dismissal of its petition against the alleged profiling conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) of its members.

ACT secretary-general Raymond Basilio said they would appeal the Feb. 4 ruling of the Court of Appeals (CA)’s 11th Division, which dismissed on technical grounds the petition filed by the teachers’ group against the PNP.

“We fervently urge the CA to take into account and give more weight to substantive considerations over technicality issues. Teachers’ fundamental rights to association, free expression and privacy are at stake,” Basilio said.

In the four-page ruling penned by Associate Justice Nina Antonio-Valenzuela, the appellate court cited infirmities as grounds for rejecting the appeal, particularly the failure of petitioners to submit certified true copies of the assailed memoranda issued by the PNP’s intelligence units last month.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the PNP lauded the dismissal of the petition.