MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court is aiming to issue a decision on the 37 petitions contesting the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL) before the end of the year.
Chief Justice Alexander Gesmundo yesterday said given the number of petitions filed against the ATL, other documents and information during the series of oral arguments, it might take the justices months before they could come out with a decision.
“We just received the parties’ memorandum about last week or two weeks ago and of course you know the number of petitions filed. In fact you noticed during oral arguments we required the parties to consolidate their memorandum and reduce it to seven, according to the clustering they presented during the oral arguments,” said Gesmundo.
“But by the sheer number of petitions it might take some time before the Court can at least prepare its draft but hopefully within the year perhaps we can have a decision on that 37 petitions,” Gesmundo said.
They would also want to have a decision on the ATL before SC Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang retires. She will turn 70 years old on Jan. 9 next year.
“We’ll do out best to have those petitions decided before Justice Carandang retires,” he added.
Several organizations and individuals filed 37 petitions against the implementation of the ATL and asked that it be declared null and void.
Many of the petitioners also said that some ATL provisions were broad and that the law was unconstitutional and violates the rights of the people.