The Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) filed a petition on Monday asking the Supreme Court (SC) to lift the freeze on their assets and bank accounts.
In a 34-page application for review by way of certiorari, the CPA asked the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order or interim injunction against the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), thereby removing the basis for its funds freezing order.
The court also asked the court to set aside a judgment of the Court of Appeal that had also dismissed the petition against the freezing order.
“The SC has just filed a motion for certification of the SC and the CA’s decision to freeze CPA bank accounts must be reviewed and reversed,” Secretary General Bestang Dekdeken said in an interview.
(We are here before the Supreme Court to file our application for leave to appeal or to seek a review and reversal by the Supreme Court of the decision of the competent authority to freeze the bank accounts of the CPA.)
According to Dekdeken, their accounts were frozen in July 2023 after four CPA leaders were designated as terrorists by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC).
“This was done very arbitrarily and to me very unfairly and totally unjustly without the leaders of the CPA condemning the Cordillera Municipality government,” she said.
(This was very arbitrary and, in our view, unjust. We continue to believe that there is no reason to label the leaders of the CPA, who are fighting exclusively for the rights of the indigenous people of the Cordillera, as terrorists.)
Dekdeken said the account suspension had affected its relief programs for victims of typhoons and natural disasters.
“We must respond immediately in the communities.” This means that a program can lead to the freezing of bank accounts. “Hindi na kami makatanggap ng pondo,” she said.
(We respond to communities immediately. So this is one of our programs that was lost due to the bank accounts being frozen. We can no longer access funds.)
In addition, the CPA also asked the court for an oral hearing on the matter.
The CPA also asked the court to declare parts of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act, 2012 and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2020 unconstitutional.
The respondents are the AMLC and the Anti-Terrorism Council.
GMA News Online has reached out to respondents for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.
The four CPA officers have also filed a petition with a Baguio court to challenge their designation as terrorists in November 2023.—AOL, GMA Integrated News
