Farmers’ organization Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) enjoins Supreme Court Justices to vote conscientiously in favor of the 37 petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Act or RA 11479 which was passed and signed by Rodrigo Duterte in July last year at the height of national COVID-19 lockdowns. 

Legal luminaries, lawyers, progressive organizations, civil society groups, and ordinary citizens were among the petitioners against the ATL, and widespread opposition to the law persists. 

The Supreme Court terminated the oral arguments on the ATL last May 17 after holding nine hearings. The High Court is slated to announce its decision on the controversial law today. A vote against the Anti-Terrorism Law is a vote to uphold democracy and the country’s future. We hope that the SC will side with the Filipino people today.

The farmers group is one of the many organizations that petitioned the Supreme Court to declare as null and void the Anti-Terrorism Law on the grounds that it was unconstitutional because it violates the rights of the people, said it is firm on its stance against the ominous law – one of the worst, anti-Filipino measures approved under Duterte’s tyrannical regime. 

“The Anti-Terrorism Law is bound to be used and abused by state forces to stifle freedom of expression, freedom of organization, and dissent from all individuals, sectors, and institutions. A Marcos-Duterte in Malacanang reinforced with an Anti-Terrorism Law will be the end of democracy and freedom as we know it. The SC must uphold what remains of our civil and political liberties,” according to KMP chairman emeritus Rafael Mariano. 

The Anti-Terror Law is morally and constitutionally wrong and deranged. We seek and enjoin SC’s judicial powers to stop and junk with finality the Anti-Terrorism Law

“We ask SC to discern who the real terrorists are. Numbers don’t lie. Under the Duterte administration, there were more than 424 extrajudicial killings; 504 frustrated extrajudicial killings; 2,807 illegal arrests without detention; 1, 159 illegal arrests with detention; 470, 647 forced evacuations; 11, 633 indiscriminate firings; and 46, 602 use of schools, medical, religious and other public places for military purpose. All these were state-sponsored human rights violations. If this is not a Martial Law situation then what is it? An Anti-Terrorism Law would be more than overkill,” says Danilo Ramos, KMP chairperson. 

KMP will join a protest action at the Commission on Human Rights today against the much-reviled law. ###