Sans new arguments, SC decision to uphold ATA expected: senator

MANILA – Senator Panfilo Lacson said Tuesday he had expected the Supreme Court (SC) to deny motions of reconsideration against Republic Act 11479 or The Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020.

Lacson, one of the principal authors of the law, said the SC seldom reverses its decisions.

“That’s expected kasi kung walang bagong (if there are no new) arguments dun sa (in the) motion for reconsideration, talagang ide-deny ‘yun (it will really be denied). And I think, those are 15 learned and experienced justices, magistrates. So ‘yung action nila, very seldom nire-reverse nila ‘yung sarili nila (They seldom reverse their decisions),” the presidential candidate said in an interview at Abra Valley Hotel in Bangued town.

Lacson, who chairs the Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification, and Reconciliation, said the two provisions questioned were already addressed by the High Court.

“First, ‘yung sinasabing once designated by a supra jurisdiction like EU (European Union), eh hindi naman binding sa atin ‘yun. Pero ‘yung designation na ginawa ng United Nations na signatory naman tayo, ‘yun in-upheld ‘yun (The first provision on being designated by a supra jurisdiction like the EU, that’s not binding here. But the designation made by the United Nations where we are a signatory, that was upheld),” he said.

The SC en banc in Baguio City announced on Tuesday that all motions for reconsideration of its Dec. 7, 2021 decision on the petitions challenging the ATA were denied with finality due to lack of substantial issues and arguments.

Aside from portions of Sections 4 and 25, all the other challenged provisions of RA 11479 were deemed constitutional.

Section 4 deals with excluding mass actions and similar exercise of civil and political rights from the definition of terrorism while Section 25 is about requests by foreign agencies or bodies to designate persons as terrorists and terrorist organizations.

After President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law in July 2020, Lacson commended the strong political will to boost the drive against terrorism.