Palace: Gov't To Appeal Court Ruling On CPP-NPA

The Philippine government will appeal a Manila court’s move to dismiss the petition to declare the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), as a terror organization, Malacañang said Friday (Manila time).

In a press briefing in New York City, Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles said the government still has available remedies to overturn the decision of Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 19 to junk the bid to classify the CPP-NPA as a terror group.

“Actually, since the decision is not yet final and this is an RTC decision, marami pang available remedies ang ating gobyerno (the government still has available remedies),” Cruz-Angeles said.

Cruz-Angeles said it would be “improper” to comment further, stressing that she wants to identify the parameters since “details are still not available to us.”

She, nevertheless, ensured that the legal battle is not yet over.

“I understand this might have been filed under the Human Security Act rather than the (Anti-)Terrorism Act,” Cruz-Angeles said.

“Malayo pa ‘to, malayo pa (It will take time). And you know, we don’t even know what parameters are here. By then, we’ll understand what remedies will be available if remedies are even necessary,” she added.

The court dismissed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) petition for proscription filed in 2018 to label the CPP-NPA as a terror organization.

The DOJ’s petition was filed based on Section 17 of Republic Act (RA) 9372 or the repealed Human Security Act of 2007 which mandates the RTC’s ruling before an organization can be formally declared as a terrorist.

In its ruling, the court noted that “none” of the alleged terrorist acts of the CPP-NPA cited by the DOJ caused “widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the Philippine populace.”

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla on Thursday said the DOJ would file a motion for reconsideration. (PNA)