1 case vs 8 in UP Cebu terror law protest dropped

CEBU CITY—A judge has dismissed one of three charges filed against six protesters and two bystanders who were arrested for holding a rally against the then anti-terrorism bill outside the University of the Philippines Cebu campus last June 5.

In a ruling, Judge Amy Rose Soler-Rellin, of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) Branch 9,  said there was no sufficient evidence that the accused violated Republic Act No. 11332, or the law mandating the reporting of communicable diseases.

A section of the law declared it unlawful for someone with communicable disease to cooperate with authorities.

“However, there is no allegation or any evidence on record to even suggest that the accused were identified as having COVID-19” when they were arrested, the ruling said.

“Too, there is nothing to establish that the non-cooperative persons or entities were affected by the health event of public concern,” Rillen added.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is a global and local public health emergency, the judge said a sweeping claim that the entire population is at risk from a “health event of public concern” cannot be made, she said.

The cooperation required by the law “seemingly pertains, not to everyone, but to persons” who have communicable diseases, Rillen said. “In this case, there is neither any allegation or showing that such circumstances exist to warrant the accused’s prosecution under the law,” the judge added.

The charges against the eight for violating the Public Assembly Act of 1985, however, stay.

Named accused in the cases were:

• Jaime Paglinawan of the Alyansa sa mga Mamumuo sa Sugbo-Kilusang Mayo Uno and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Central Visayas
• UP Cebu students Joahanna Veloso, 22; Bernie Cañedo, 21, and Nar Athena Mae Porlas
• April Dyan Gumanao, a volunteer of the Kabataan party-list group
• Al Ingking, 26, a UP alumnus
• Janry Ubal, 29, and Clement Corominas Jr. , 19, who claimed to just have passed by UP Cebu when the rally was ongoing and dispersed

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) in Cebu welcomed the dismissal of the case for failure to cooperate with authorities by persons carrying communicable diseases.

NUPL said it remained firm in its position that the accused “did not violate any law but were merely exercising their constitutional rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.”

“They did not even abuse the exercise of their rights,” the lawyers’ group said.

“As seen in news footage, they wore face masks and observed physical distancing until the police dispersed them violently,” it said.

The group said the now anti-terror law “cannot serve to prohibit our cherished fundamental rights and liberties.”

TSB