Lawyers’ group rues CA dismissal of petition vs profiling of teachers

Public and private teachers in Central Luzon demand higher pay and seek a stop to profiling by the police. They were gathered by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers at a park in front of the Holy Rosary Church in Angeles City, Pampanga last week. CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

MANILA, Philippines – The Court of Appeal’s (CA) dismissal of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) petition to stop the profiling of its members by the police has disappointed a group of lawyers.

“The recent dismissal by the Court of Appeals of the ACT teachers’ Petition for Prohibition on

technical grounds is a disappointing development in the application for redress from the courts,” the National Union of People’s Lawyer (NUPL) said in a statement.

The CA said the ACT’s plea failed to meet the requirements set under Rule 65 concerning Rule 46 of the Rules of Court, specifically their failure to submit certified true copies of the assailed memo issued by the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) intelligence units.

READ: CA dismisses plea to stop cops from profiling ACT members
NUPL questioned CA’s reason for dismissal, saying the PNP documents was difficult to obtain.

“The application of procedural rules to the petition must take into full account the teachers’ difficult circumstances. In the first place, it was infeasible for the teachers to obtain these documents from the PNP, considering that they were kept secret and were issued by quite a number of PNP units across nine regions in the country,” the organization said.

NUPL also urged CA to take heed of “the emerging trend in law that courts should afford every party litigants the amplest opportunity for the just determination of their cause, unrestrained by the strictures of technicalities.”  /gsg