CA strikes terrorist tag off Teves group
The Court of Appeals (CA) removed the terrorist tag placed on former Negros Oriental Gov. Pryde Henry Teves and dismissed the designation as “baseless and uncalled for” and a gross misapplication of the antiterrorism law.
In a 45-page decision promulgated on Dec. 18, the CA granted Teves’ petition to remove the designation the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) imposed on him, his brother Arnolfo and 11 other individuals, following the 2023 killing of Gov. Roel Degamo of Negros Oriental.
The court granted the former governor’s request to remove him from the ATC listing and lifted a freeze order on his assets, although the ATC did not even indict him for the alleged crimes.
“If he indeed committed atrocious acts as respondents would want us to believe, then he should be indicted for the crimes he actually committed,” the court said.
Teves was arrested in June 2024 for allegedly financing a local terrorist organization, but he was later released after he posted bail of P600,000.
The court called out the ATC for providing “no clue whatsoever” as to how Teves committed acts that warranted his terrorist designation, which it said was “already a basis for a finding of grave abuse of discretion.”
“Worse, it became manifest during the proceedings that respondents’ finding of probable cause is founded on a gross misapprehension of the facts and gross application of the ATA (Anti-Terrorism Act),” read the decision penned by Associate Justice Ruben Reynaldo Roxas, the division chair, with concurrences from Associate Justices Lorenza Bordios and Eduardo Ramos Jr.
“While the court recognizes that combatting terrorism requires a pragmatic approach, this must not come at the expense of human rights and due process,” the CA ruled, as it also acknowledged its difficulty in its “balancing duty” in handling ATA-related cases.
“When the balance tilts against the government, such as in the present case, the decision should not be viewed as a disavowal of the government’s goal to defeat terrorism; rather, it is a call for more vigilant and effective prosecution, so that the legitimate ends of ATA are properly addressed,” the court reminded.
