(Eagle News) — Citing “infirmities,” the Court of Appeals junked the petition filed by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers to stop what it said was the police’s profiling of its members.
In a four-page resolution dated Feb. 4, the eleventh division said in the first place, the petition was not accompanied by “certified true copies” of the Philippine National Police memoranda that allegedly ordered the “profiling” and which the group was assailing.
ACT had argued the memoranda, which ordered that information be gathered on the group’s members, violated their right to organization and freedom of expression, among others.
The division said this was in violation of Rule 65, Section 2 of the Rules of Court in relation to Rule 46, Section 3 of the same.
According to the appellate court, the petition also did not indicate the “material dates” when the petitioners received the assailed PNP memoranda, in violation of Rule 46, nor did it indicate the current date of issuance of the professional tax number and the IBP membership number of the petitioners’ counsel, in violation of Bar Matter Number 1132 and 87, respectively.
“The court dismisses the petition for prohibition with urgent prayer for the issuance of temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction because it contains the following infirmities,” the division said.
Named as respondents in the petition were Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde, National Capital Region Police Office chief Guillermo Eleazar, among others, who had argued part of the police’s general work was to gather intelligence, especially since Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison had supposedly cited ACT as among the Communists’ “front organizations.”
The CA resolution was penned by Associate Justice Nina Antonio-Valenzuela.
Associate Justices Ricardo Rosario and Perpetua Atal- Paño concurred.
