SUPPORT FROM ALLIES Baguio-based human rights defenders are showing support to fellow activists Windel Bolinget, Stephen Tauli, Sara Abellon-Alikes and Jennifer Awingan-Taggaoa.
they hold a rally in front of the Baguio Justice Hall. —FILE PHOTO VINCENT CABREZA/INQUIRER

BAGUIO CITY—The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) has asked a local court judge to recuse himself from the high-profile trial challenging the government’s terrorist designation of four Cordillera militants, the Inquirer has learned.

A copy of the OSG’s petition against Baguio Regional Trial Court Judge Cecilia Corazon Dulay Archog of Branch 7 was not released to the media at the time of publication.

According to an attorney familiar with the matter, government lawyers claimed that Archog showed bias during the hearing of petitions for certiorari and preliminary injunction filed against the Anti-Terrorism Council and the Anti-Money Laundering Council. silver by Windel Bolinget and Sarah Abellon. I love Jennifer Awingan-Taggaoa and Steve Tauli.

The lawyer requested anonymity so as not to disrupt the proceedings.

The four belong to the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, chaired by Bolinget. The activists discovered that they had been designated as terrorists by ATC Resolution No. 41, issued on June 7 last year, but made public on July 10 by a national newspaper.

Article continues after this ad

Bolinget and the other activists had asked the court to remove their terrorism labels and lift the freezing order imposed on their family assets.

Article continues after this ad

During the first day of the trial, September 16, Bolinget said being declared an “enemy of the state” put him and his family in grave danger.

The Arhog Court is the only RTC authorized by the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the ATC and the constitutionality of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (Republic Act No. 11479) after the High Court enforced new guidelines regarding the litigation of grievances against the ATC.

Administrative Case No. 22-02-19-SC, which took effect January 15, directs the Court of Appeals to handle all terrorism cases.

If Archog decided to forgo the trial, it would be drawn to another RTC in Baguio, not the Court of Appeals, courthouse officials told the Inquirer.

OSG also filed a separate motion asking the court to “disqualify” human rights attorney Jose Molintas from representing the activists because he is an incumbent city council member.

Violation of oath?

Molintas and Ephraim Cortez of the National Union of People’s Lawyers are the lawyers of Bolinget, Alikes, Taggaoa and Tauli, who is the brother of former United Nations special rapporteur Victoria Tauli Corpuz.

The OSG protest, which Molintas received on October 4, argued that the councilor violated his oath by filing suit against the government.

He cites the Local Government Code which authorizes elected officials to practice their profession, but which is supposed to prevent lawyers from serving as advisors in cases where the government “is the opposing party”.

“By acting as a party lawyer against national agencies of government, (Molintas) engages in an unauthorized practice of law,” according to the latest OSG motion dated October 2 and signed by Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra and 16 associate lawyers. some of whom participated in the trials.

The OSG cited the bar’s rules of professional conduct, which state that “a lawyer shall not engage in illegal, dishonest, immoral or deceptive conduct.” It also “reminds” the court that such violations may lead to the lawyer’s disbarment or suspension.