Petitioners vs. Anti-Terror Law ask SC to end Esperon's role in oral arguments

Opponents of the anti-terror law on Friday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to end the participation of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. in the oral arguments on the petitions seeking to nullify the measure.

The petitioners cited Esperon’s “red-tagging” testimony during Wednesday’s oral arguments in which he played two videos of Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founding chairman Jose Maria Sison who allegedly enumerated the groups allied with the communist movement.

They urged the SC to remove the “defamatory” testimony from the records of the case because it was supposedly not responsive to the questions posed by the Court.

“It is in fact ironic that, when the Court wanted to know if the situation today is reminiscent of McCarthyism, he (Esperon) actually engaged in McCarthyite red-tagging, which is deadly business in the Philippines," the motion stated.

“No one—especially our government officials—should be allowed to use the proceedings of this Court as a platform to engage in acts that are not only anomalous but downright dangerous.”

The petitioners also said the organizations did not have the chance to refute Esperon’s remarks.

The SC will resume the oral arguments on May 17. —NB, GMA News