More youth leaders challenge anti-terror law before SC

More youth leaders on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to declare the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 null and void.

In at least the 29th petition against the new law, several Sangguniang Kabataan officials and students said they have a personal stake in the outcome of a case which they said involved free speech.

The petitioners, who said they have expressed their views on national issues both online and offline, argued that the "vague" and "overly broad" language of the law creates a chilling effect on the exercise of their basic rights.

The petitioners challenged the law's definition of terrorism and other related crimes, its provision on warrantless arrest and detention, and the process by which individual persons and groups are "designated" as terrorists, among others.

"With every unjust law enacted and upheld, the country inches farther from democracy. With RA 11479, it would be taking a huge step in the wrong direction; even a leap straight into the bowels of tyranny," they said.

The petitioners also asked the court to issue a temporary restraining order against the law to prevent its enforcement while the case is pending.

The National Union of Peoples' Lawyers - National Capital Region, which represents the youth leaders, said the petitioners "deeply care" about the Philippines' political, social and economic climate.

"With the Anti-Terror Law in place and the bloody human rights record of its main implementers, their fear of being gagged to being silenced for being critical of the government is not a product of one’s playful imagination. It is real. It is valid," the lawyers said.

Several other youth groups have filed petitions urging the SC to strike down the anti-terrorism law for its alleged unconstitutionality.

Retired justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio Morales, framers of the 1987 Constitution, human rights lawyers and advocates, activists, journalists, artists, labor groups, and Muslim Filipinos who claim to have been falsely accused of being terrorists have also challenged the law.

The anti-terrorism law took effect last month. Authorities have yet to promulgate its implementing rules and regulations.

The SC will hear oral arguments on the case in the third week of September at the earliest.