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Comliance and Manifestation Republic of the Philippines SUPREME COURT Manila En Banc Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Secretary General RENATO M. REYES, JR., BAYAN Chairperson MARIA CAROLINA P. ARAULLO, Movement Against Tyranny Convenor GUILLERMINA “SISTER MARY JOHN” G.R. No. 252733 MANANZAN, OSB, et. al., For: Certiorari with Petitioners, Prohibition with Prayer for Status Quo Ante Order or Temporary Restraining - versus - Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction H.E. RODRIGO R. DUTERTE, et. al., Respondents. x----------------------------------------------x COMPLIANCE AND MANIFESTATION PETITIONERS, through counsel and unto this Honorable Court, respectfully state that: 1. On November 10, 2020, the undersigned counsel received via electronic mail a copy of the Notice dated November 5, 2020 requiring petitioners to move in the premises within a non-extendible period of five (5) working days from receipt thereof. Reckoned from the date of receipt, excluding the two-day work suspension declared by this Honorable Court last week due to typhoon Ulysses, this Compliance and Manifestation is being filed within the prescribed period. 2. The premises stated in Petitioners’ Manifestation with Omnibus Motion dated October 26, 2020 enabled by the effectivity of RA 11479 or “The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020” continue to exist and assail the people’s basic rights and freedoms, such as the right to due process, right against illegal arrests and arbitrary searches and seizures, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of association, and the right to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances. [2] 3. Petitioners are now informing the Honorable Court of the available details of the first publicly known direct injury case of the Anti- Terrorism Act, which happened to take place even prior to the issuance of the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR). 4. On August 21, 2020, a group of Aetas were making their way down the mountain in Sitio Lumibao, Brgy. Buhawen, San Marcelino, Zambales. Rosalyn Urbano, a minor, her uncle Manuel Ramos and brother Junior Ramos, husband Jay Garung, and Kiray Serrano, also a minor, were accosted by elements of the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army and falsely accused of being members of the New People’s Army (NPA).1 Firearms and explosives were also planted on the victims, who were evacuating due to intense military operations and continued bombings in their ancestral lands. They are all civilians. 5. Some of the victims were tortured, fed with human feces and were later charged with violation of Section 4(a) of RA 11479, among other crimes. Since their arrest, they have been detained at the Olongapo City Jail. A copy of the Information filed against Garung, Ramos and other John Does before the Regional Trial Court (RTC) of Olongapo City, Branch 97 is attached hereto as Annex “A.” 6. Threats of impending prosecution, designation, proscription, surveillance, and other sanctioned invasions of rights and liberties under RA 11479 have worsened since Petitioners filed their Manifestation last October 26, 2020. 7. In their Manifestation, Petitioners cited the issuance of the IRR of RA 11479 on October 14, 2020, and its publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation on October 17, 2020. The IRR adopted the same unconstitutional and objectionable provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act and expanded its scope and application. It even introduced provisos not in the law itself. 8. Days after the issuance of the IRR, Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Southern Luzon command, revealed in his media interviews that Atty. Neri Colmenares, himself a petitioner and counsel in similar pending petitions against the Anti-Terrorism Act, and members of the Makabayang Koalisyon ng Mamamayan (Makabayan) bloc at the House of Representatives are under 1 See the press statement “After torture and illegal detention; Aytas first ‘terrorists’ charged under Anti-Terror” published by the Sandugo - Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self- Determination Law, https://www.facebook.com/SandugoNatMin/posts/after-torture-and-illegal- detentionaytas-first-terrorists-charged-under-anti-ter/1295823857438310/, last accessed November 18, 2020. [3] surveillance for allegedly being members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). 2 9. When asked why Colmenares and other members of Bayan Muna are under surveillance, Parlade said in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel’s (ANC) Karen Davila on October 26, 2020 that: “…because we have this anti-terror law now, it’s actually in effect and we have to do our job to make sure that we are focusing on the right persons and we are properly implementing the law and part of that is to make sure that we have a strong case against people, against organizations, who by the way has been declared as terrorist organization pursuant to Presidential Proclamation 374, series of 2017 declaring the CPP NPA NDF as a terrorist organization. So now we have the IRR out there…and we have to make sure that we do our assignment well.”3 10. A quick review of the Presidential Proclamation No. 374, however, shows that it only pertained to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the NPA as designated/identified terrorist organizations under Republic Act No. 10168, or the “Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012.” The Makabayan Bloc was not mentioned in the proclamation.4 11. Asked again what evidence they have against Colmenares, Parlade failed to cite any proof and just continued to engage in unsubstantiated and groundless red-tagging. He reiterated that the surveillance was to “make sure that we have enough of this piece of evidence because the people are clamoring, why these people have not been charged despite the fact that they’ve been involved in so many terrorist organizations, despite the fact that the CPP NPA links are very pronounced.” 5 How those links are supposedly pronounced, Parlade failed to demonstrate in this interview. 12. Parlade also admitted that the military has been engaged in surveillance even before the enactment of Anti-Terrorism Act. When asked if they sought a judicial order to conduct surveillance pursuant to Section 17 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, Parlade then insisted that the AFP’s so-called “intelligence surveillance” differs from “legal surveillance” under RA 11479. How different “intelligence surveillance” is from “legal surveillance” again escapes us. 2 Christia Marie Ramos, “Parlade: Colmenares, Makabayan bloc members under surveillance”, Inquirer.net, October 26, 2020, at https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1352525/colmenares-makabayan- bloc-members-under-surveillance-says-parlade, last accessed November 14, 2020. 3ANC 24/7, “PH anti-communist task force puts Bayan Muna members under surveillance”, October 26, 2020, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiCrYCne9Jo, last accessed November 15, 2020. 4 Proclamation No. 374, s. 2017, https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2017/12dec/20171205-PROC-374-RRD.pdf. 5 Supra note 2. [4] 13. A day earlier, over dzBB’s Teleradyo, Parlade stated that: “Neri Colmenares, he’s under surveillance. Let me tell you, now that we have the Anti-Terror Law, it won’t take long. Once the proscription of these organizations comes out...the judiciary will be designating them as terrorist organizations.”6 14. Parlade vowed to continue his vilification, saying: This is not my opinion. This is the NTF-ELCAC position on these issues. It just so happens I'm the one speaking right now. I'm just one of the spokespersons. This is beyond me. Our chairman is the President. Will I stop what I'm doing? Of course not.7 15. Parlade had been criticized for his warning against actress Liza Soberano after the latter spoke in a forum on the rights of women and girls organized by GABRIELA Youth.8 He similarly warned Miss Universe 2018 Catriona Gray and actress Angel Locsin for associating with progressive groups. 16. Particularly, Parlade has been adamant in pressing Locsin as he baselessly accused the latter’s sister Ella Colmenares of being a CPP member on account of her former membership in youth organization League of Filipino Students (LFS).9 17. The recurrent and systematic red-tagging by members of the NTF-ELCAC led to the filing of Senate Resolution 559 by Senator Panfilo Lacson to exercise Senate “oversight authority on the issue of red tagging/red-baiting of certain celebrities, personalities, institutions, and organizations.” 18. During the Senate Committee on National Defense and Security, Peace, Unification and Reconciliation’s hearing on red- tagging on November 3, 2020, members of the NTF-ELCAC revealed that they have been targeting progressive party-lists and non- governmental organizations for allegedly being “legal fronts” of the CPP. 19. For example, NICA Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo said that they have created a “watch list of funding 6 Franco Luna, “’I won’t stop’: Parlade red-tags Colmenares anew”, Philstar.com, October 25, 2020, https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/10/25/2052197/i-wont-stop-parlade-red-tags- colmenares-anew, last accessed November 14, 2020. 7 Id. 8 Rambo Talabong, “Parlade warns Liza Soberano on supporting Gabriela: ‘You will suffer the same fate’ of those killed”, Rappler.com, October 22, 2020, at https://www.rappler.com/nation/parlade- warns-liza-soberano-supporting-gabriela-youth, last accessed November 15, 2020. 9 Supra note 4. [5] sources” of the CPP-NPA. Monteagudo discussed the interventions done by the government’s security sector in trying to cut off funding to alleged legal front organizations, such as submitting reports to the European Union and other funding agencies and accusing NGOs without any proof as being engaged in “triple funding” and funneling funds to the CPP.10 A copy of the Transcript of Stenographic Notes (TSN) taken during this Senate hearing is attached hereto as Annex “B.” 20.
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