The Supreme Court of the Philippines has declared two parts of the controversial Anti-Terrorism Law as "unconstitutional" after months of oral arguments.
Voting 12-3, the High Tribunal voted as unconstitutional a qualifier portion of Section 4 of Republic Act 11479 stating that “…which are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, to endanger a person’s life, or to create a serious risk to public safety.”
Meanwhile, the second paragraph of Section 25 of the law was also struck down by the SC stating “request for designations by other jurisdictions or supranational jurisdictions may be adopted by the ATC after determination that the proposed designee meets the criteria for designation of UNSCR No. 1373.”
Other provisions subject to the more than 30 petitions, the Supreme Court announced are not unconstitutional.
“On the basis of the current petitions, all the other challenged provisions of R.A. 11479 are not unconstitutional,” the SC said in an advisory.
“The main ponencia and the various opinions contain interpretations of some of the provisions declared in these cases as not unconstitutional,” it added.
This means the high court believes that other provisions including the 12-year imprisonment for any person who will threaten to commit terrorism are 'constitutional.'
President Rodrigo Duterte signed the anti-terror bill into law in July 3, 2020 and took effect on July 18 of the same year.
