NUPL defers filing of Supreme Court petition vs anti-terror law

The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) said on Saturday that they were deferring the petition they had planned to file with the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

According to NUPL President Edre Olalia, upon further consultations and deliberation with their clients, and out of an abundance of caution, they were postponing the filing of their 117-page draft petition dated June, 17 2020 to:

1. to include more petitioners who expressed intense intention to join,
2. to retweak it in view of supervening facts,
3. to complete and reinforce remaining
4. procedural requisites, and

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5. to add equally cogent substantive issues so as to ensure that we have covered all bases.

“As soon as we have accomplished these, we will be filing [the petition] forthwith,” said Olalia in a statement.

“In general, the retweaked Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition against constitutionality (with prayer for TRO or Preliminary Injunction) will at the minimum essentially raise the ff. issues: propriety of remedies & judicial review; violations of due process, right to property, freedom of association, warrantless arrests and detentions without charges, right to bail and travel; and usurpation of judicial prerogatives.”

President Rodrigo Duterte signed the anti-terror bill into law on Friday, despite objections from various groups, including the United Nations human rights body and the Bangsamoro Transition Authority.  — DVM, GMA News