FOUR Baguio-based human rights activists yesterday challenged their designation by the government as terrorists and the constitutionality of the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020, according to the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL).
The NUPL said Windel Bolinget, Jennifer Taggaoa, Stephen Tauli and Sara Alikes of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) asked the Baguio City Regional Trial Court to invalidate their terrorist designation under on the ground that it deprives them of their constitutional right to due process and access to adequate remedies.
The four were designated by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) as terrorists on June 27.
They said they have “never participated in any terrorist act” and are not part of any terrorist group or association. They added the CPA is not a terrorist organization.
“We were persistently harassed and threatened for our untiring advocacy in protecting rights and welfare of the Cordillera people,” they said in their petition.
“The power of designation is being abused and weaponized against rights defenders, including indigenous peoples’ rights activists like them who have been defending their ancestral domains and exercising their right to self-determination,” they added.
They said that as a result of the designation, their bank accounts, the accounts of their relatives, as well as bank accounts of their organization were frozen.
“The grievous consequences of the terrorist designation, which are not limited to asset freezing, encroach upon our basic rights and freedoms. This case demonstrates the urgent need to revisit and declare the ATC’s power of administrative designation as unconstitutional,” the complaint said, adding that the freezing of the bank accounts of their relatives and the CPA is problematic considering that they are not designated as terrorists.
They said those who donate to them also run the risk of being designated as terrorists and their bank accounts frozen.
The four also asked the court to void resolutions issued by ATC and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and to issue a writ of preliminary injunction to stop those agencies from implementing their authority to designate terrorists.
In its ruling upholding the ATA in 2021, the Supreme Court has declared the second paragraph of the said law as unconstitutional.
Section 25 states that the ATC will automatically adopt the United Nations Security Council Consolidated List of designated individuals or groups designated as a terrorist, one who finances terrorism, or a terrorist organization.
