Activists scored another victory against the government’s use of the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 as the Malolos Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed charges against Makabayan secretary general Nathanael Santiago and dozens others.

Malolos RTC Branch 12 Presiding Judge Julie P. Mercurio in a joint order dated September 3 dismissed the charges against the activists “for lack of probable cause.”

Aside from Santiago, other respondents included Rosario Brenda M. Gonzalez, Servillano E. Luna Jr., and Anasusa Salonga San Gabriel.

An activist since 1984, Santiago had been League of Filipino Students chairperson and secretary general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN). He is concurrently Bayan Muna Party secretary general.

Gonzalez is a long-time development worker, San Gabriel is a church ay worker, while Luna was former campaign director and secretary general of Anakpawis Party.

READ: Groups condemn trumped up terror cases filed against Nat Santiago, other activists

The Court also dismissed the same accusations against 30 other unnamed activists, including trade union organizers Rodrigo Esparago and Ed Cubello.

The Court said the evidence submitted by the government prosecution was insufficient to show that the accused were present in a New People’s Army ambush on October 8, 2023 in Laur, Nueva Ecija.

The prosecution likewise failed to show the activists were in actual possession of weapons in the firefight with elements of the 84th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army where a government trooper was killed, the order reads.

BAYAN president Renato Reyes Jr. hailed the dismissal of the “trumped up charges,” saying: “This is a major win. Gov’t continues to weaponize terror law vs activists. “

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said that at least five similar charges using the ATA have earlier collapsed in court due to the State’s inability to provide sufficient evidence to support their claims.

“All cases involved perjurious testimonies and false accusations from military elements and/or so-called rebel returnees,” the NUPL said in its reaction to the dismissal of the charges against its clients.

The same Court previously dismissed terrorism charges against Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) coordinator Aurora Santiago and the RTC of Batangas City, Branch 7, dismissed charges of financing terrorism against Tanggol Quezon spokesperson Paul Tagle and Kabataan Partylist – Quezon coordinator Fritz Labiano, which stemmed from a July 2023 incident when the two delivered grocery items to political prisoners Rowena Dasig and Miguela Piniero.

In another case, the courts also cleared Roel Alconera, vice-chairperson of the Unyon ng mga Panadero sa Gardenia Philippines-Olalia-KMU, of financing terrorism charges.

Judge Mercurio said the pending issuance of warrants of arrests against the accused are rendered moot by the dismissal of the charges.

The NUPL said it reiterates its demand to repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act amid the spate of dismissals.

“These laws have become blunt weapons wielded not (just) to suppress but to sow terror, standing in the way of the very freedoms and liberties they purport to protect,” the group said.

NUPL said government’s ambition to exit the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list or meet arbitrary prosecution quotas cannot, and must not, serve as a justification for the harassment and criminalization of activists and rights defenders.

“These are people who take the blows so that others may live with dignity. To brand them as terrorists is a grotesque distortion of truth,” it said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)