Baguio activists bring terrorist-tagging case to CA
BAGUIO CITY—The local activists who were designated as terrorists by the government in 2023 elevated their petition to remove that tag to the Court of Appeals (CA), after a regional trial court (RTC) dismissed their case against the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC).
Windel Bolinget, chair of the indigenous people’s rights group Cordillera Peoples Alliance, and its members Sarah Abellon-Alikes, Jennifer Awingan-Taggaoa and Stephen Tauli, informed Baguio RTC Judge Hilario Belmes of Branch 78 that they have appealed his April 30 ruling before the CA “on both questions of fact and of law” which they argue were “not in accord with law, prevailing jurisprudence and evidence.”
Notice of appeal
Belmes dismissed their petition for certiorari and prohibition and for a writ of preliminary injunction against ATC Resolution No. 41 issued on June 4, 2023, which characterized the activists as terrorists for supposedly providing material support to the armed communist movement, and for allegedly recruiting rebels. The activists said they learned about their terrorist tags in July 2023.
The notice of appeal was sent to the CA by email, said King Monteclaro Montereal, one of the activists’ lawyers. On Thursday, the petitioners went to RTC Branch 78 at the CA building here, which houses several Baguio courts, to submit physical copies of their appeal.
Red-tagging
The trial took three years to complete. In one of the hearings, Bolinget had informed the court that their terrorist designations were enforced following years of harassment, Red-tagging and “trumped-up” criminal charges for which they were acquitted.
In his decision, Belmes said the activists failed to prove that the ATC acted with grave abuse of authority when they declared them terrorists without due process.
Section 25 of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (Republic Act No. 11479), which allows the ATC to conduct its investigations without notifying those parties, is valid and constitutional, Belmes said.
