Anti-Terror Law petitioners ask SC: Bar Esperon from testifying in oral arguments

The Supreme Court (SC) has been asked, not just to expunge his testimony last Tuesday (May 11), but also to no longer allow National Security Adviser Hermogense Esperon Jr. to testify during the oral arguments concerning the Anti-Terrorism Law.

A group of petitioners led by law professor Howard Calleja sought this after Esperon presented during the oral arguments at the SC last Tuesday clips of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison identifying groups affiliated with the CPP..

With the oral arguments set to resume next week, the petitioners who have been seeking to declare the law as unconstitutional have asked the SC that “his recall to continue his interpellation on Monday, May 17, 2021, at 2:30 P.M. be cancelled.”

The petitioners prayed that the high tribunal to have “the oral statements, video presentations, and annotations of respondent Secretary Hermogenes Esperon on May 12, 2021 be deleted or expunged from the records of this case….”

“Petitioners submit that respondent Esperon’s statements and so-called evidence should be stricken off the record because they are not responsive to the questions posed, it is in fact ironic that, when the Court wanted to know if the situation today is reminiscent of MacCarthyism, he actually engaged in MacCarthyite red-tagging, which is deadly business in the Philippines. No one–especially our government official–should be allowed to use the proceedings of this Court as a platform to engage in acts that are not only anomalous but down right dangerous,” the group explained.

Aside from this, the petitioners pointed out “respondent Esperon presented two (2) self-serving videos whose authenticity was not even previously established pursuant to Section 1, Rule 11 of the Rules on Electronic Evidence.”

“Moreover, respondent Esperon engaged in the defamatory red tagging at will certain legitimate organizations without the latter having the opportunity to rebut his indictments,” they added.

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