DILG welcomes teachers’ group’s petition vs PNP profiling
MANILA, Philippines – Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday welcomed the petition filed by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) before the Court of Appeals (CA) to stop the police from profiling its members.
In its petition through the National Union of People’s Lawyers, ACT asked the CA to issue a restraining order against the intelligence gathering of the Philippine National Police (PNP) aimed at identifying its members who may supporting the communist movement.
“The DILG (Department of the Interior and Local Government) and the PNP welcome the case filed, a petition for prohibition, by the ACT before the Court of Appeals,” Año said in a statement.
But despite welcoming the move of the party-list group, Año denied that the PNP had violated any of the rights of ACT as it claimed in the petition.
He said that intelligence gathering is a task routinely conducted by law enforcement agencies, and noted that Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison himself tagged ACT as one of its legal fronts.
“The PNP will be guilty of dereliction of duty and negligence if it were to do nothing about Sison’s admission that is making the rounds of social media,” Año said.
Año also said that as stated by the Supreme Court in several decisions, the right to privacy is “not absolute and may nevertheless succumb to an overriding state interest deemed legitimate and compelling.” / gsg
RELATED STORIES: Albayalde welcomes ACT petition vs PNP ‘profiling’
PNP exec surprised at ACT petition to stop profiling its members
