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SC starts public consultations on anti-terror rules

MANILA — The Supreme Court (SC) has commenced public consultations for the governing rules on antiterrorism cases in relation to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, an undertaking that the high court intends to use in protecting the public against potential abuses by state agents.

Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo said the SC’s Ad Hoc Committee for the Formulation of the Special Rules of Procedure on Anti-Terrorism Cases, headed by retired chief justice Reynato Puno, has submitted its proposed draft of the governing rules to the high court for review and deliberation.

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While the court deliberates on the draft, the SC is holding public consultations, starting with the dialogue on antiterrorism and counterterrorism financing cases, in Cebu. During his keynote address on the first day of the dialogue, Gesmundo said the ad hoc committee was able to strike the right balance against competing interests and considerations surrounding handling anti-terror cases in the judiciary.

For example, the Chief Justice noted that while the Anti-Terror Law introduced an “important” preventive philosophy that penalizes inchoate offenses, he said such preventive approaches “come with the danger of state abuses brought about by overzealous law enforcement.”

“To address this conundrum, the Court found it necessary to promulgate a procedural framework both to demarcate a zone of legitimacy for acts by law enforcers as well as to delineate judicial reliefs against potential abuses of state agents. Creating a procedural framework to balance effective law enforcement and protection of fundamental rights is akin to walking a legal tightrope,” he said.

“Procedures that lean heavily in favor of law enforcement will expose the fundamental rights of persons to the danger of abuses; while those that lean intensely in favor of liberties will expose the population’s lives and safety to the devastating effects of terrorism,” the chief magistrate said.

“In this context, the Rule of Law, as expressed in the proposed judicial rules on antiterrorism cases, aims to protect the public’s right to life and safety and the individual civil liberties – both essential for the enjoyment of the blessings of democracy as espoused by the Constitution. After all, public interest is but an aggregate of private interests – all of which deserve equal protection,” he added. (Philstar.com)

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