SC asked to junk Calida’s plea to stop oral arguments on Anti-Terror Law petitions

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday (Sept. 14) has been asked to junk the appeal of Solicitor General Jose Calida not to hold oral arguments over the petitions seeking to nullify the Anti-Terrorism Law.

“If the COVID-19 pandemic did not stop courts from holding hearings in regular cases, some of them even in-court, with more reason should the Honorable Court strive to conduct said oral arguments herein due to their transcendental importance, without risking the health and lives of those concerned,” read the joint opposition filed by a group of petitioners led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN).

The opposition was filed in response to the motion of Calida seeking to stop the order of the SC to hold the oral arguments due to ongoing COVID-19 virus pandemic.

“Amid the continuing rise in the number of COVID-19 infections in the country, the Honorable Court has adjusted to the situation by putting in place a system that allowed the work of the Judiciary to continue unhampered, even as it had to restrict the movement of court users, persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), justices, judges, and court personnel. This can be gathered from the issuances of the Supreme Court and the Office of the Court Administrator during the effectivity of the community quarantine in varying degrees,” the group cited.

In his motion, Calida also argued that the over 30 petitions filed against the law should be dismissed by the SC since these have not satisfied requisites for judicial review and have raised factual allegations which have not yet occurred.

Citing the SC internal rules, the Bayan group pointed out that noting in the rules states that the high tribunal first has to “determine whether a petition filed before it has fulfilled all requisites of constitutional litigation prior conducting oral arguments.”

“The issues raised in the instant Petitions became ripe for judicial review the moment Respondents passed and signed a penal law that infringes upon the rights and freedoms and disregards safeguards for the balancing and separation of powers in our republican democracy. When Republic Act 11479 or the ‘Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020’ was legislated, it became an affront to the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” it stated.

The post SC asked to junk Calida’s plea to stop oral arguments on Anti-Terror Law petitions first appeared on Latest Philippine politics news today.

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)