Robredo: Anti-terror law should never stifle legitimate dissent

Vice President Leni Robredo said Thursday that any legislation on anti-terrorism should not stifle freedom of expression and legitimate dissent.

Robredo issued the statement after the Supreme Court declared two provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL) as unconstitutional.

Provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 that the Supreme Court struck down include:

the one in Section 4 which deleted the qualifier that stating dissent is not considered terrorism which are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a person's life, or to create a serious risk to public safety, and

the one in Paragraph 2 of Section 25 which states that a request for designation by other jurisdictions or countries may be adopted by the Anti-Terrorism Council under the Executive department.

"We remain steadfast in our position: Any Anti-Terrorism legislation must truly address the root causes of terrorism, and should not be used as a pretext to stifle freedom of expression or legitimate dissent," Robredo said in a statement.

"We are hopeful that the rest of these concerns will be substantially resolved in the full decision," she added.

The SC said that Section 4 of the ATL qualifying dissent is "overboard and violative of the [right to] freedom of expression".

The High Court, however, is yet to explain why Section 25 of Paragraph 2 of the ATL is illegal. —LBG, GMA News