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CEBU, Philippines – A regional court in Cebu City has dismissed the terrorism financing case against 27 former and active members of Cebu-based non-governmental organization Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET).
In May 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed the complaint against them, alleging that CERNET violated the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 by providing P135,000 to the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in September 2012.
The ruling from the 7th Judicial Regional Trial Court Branch 74 in Cebu and signed by Judge Van Russel Inopiquez, ruled that the alleged acts did not constitute a crime under the law.
“The CPP-NPA was not yet officially designated as a terrorist organization when the law RA 10168 was approved on June 18, 2012,” the judge said.
Inopiquez cited Section 15 of RA No. 10168 and Rules 15 (a) and (b) of its implementing rules and regulations which mandates the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Anti-Terrorism Council to publish the official list of designated persons and groups.
Under the law, designated persons or groups are those who are identified as terrorists, those who fund terrorists, or those identified as designated under the applicable United Nations Security Council Resolution or by another jurisdiction or supranational jurisdiction.
The court noted that it was only on December 5, 2017, that Proclamation No. 374 declared the CPP-NPA a terrorist organization and directed the Department of Foreign Affairs to publish the designation under RA No. 10168. On December 9, 2020, the Anti-Terrorism Council issued Resolution No. 12 (2020), designating the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization.
Without the official publication of the designation, Inopiquez explained that the statutory requirement was not complied with at the time of the alleged crime, affecting the existence of the third element of the crime — that the recipient of funds reportedly used for terrorism were designated persons/entities.
“Absence of such statutory publication requirement pursuant to Section 15 of RA No. 10168 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations constitute a violation of the constitutional right to due process,” the court added.
News article not official publication
The prosecution had presented documents to argue that the CPP-NPA was already designated a terrorist organization as early as 2002. These include declarations from the United States, European Union, and New Zealand from 2002 to 2010.
The prosecution had also asserted the designation of the CPP-NPA as a terrorist organization was publicly reported in the Philippines through the publication of two articles in the Philippine Star in 2002.
The court threw out the argument, saying the Philippine Star article was not the kind of publication required under Section 15 of RA No. 10168.
“The Act and its implementing rules do not consider a reporter’s news piece about a foreign or supranational designation to be an official publication,” the judge said.
Inopiquez said the publication could not have met the statutory requirement as it was published before RA No. 10168 was approved in 2012.
“The law must first be approved and then follows the publication. The publication, a statutory requirement, must not precede the approval of the law,” he stressed.
Vindicated and unyielding
“The dismissal of the CERNET 27 case affirms a fundamental principle: serving poor and vulnerable communities is not terrorism. Development work, humanitarian assistance, and human rights advocacy must never be criminalized,” the NGO said in a statement on Monday evening, May 18.
For years, CERNET members reported facing intimidation, red-tagging, and other forms of harassment.
In 2021, Elena Tijamo, a member of the Central Visayas Farmers Development Center (FARDEC) – a member-organization of CERNET – was abducted from her home and whose remains were subsequently identified by her family members in a Manila hospital a year later.
In 2023, activists Dyan Gumanao, a former CERNET worker, and Armand Dayoha, a staff member at the Visayas Human Development Agency (VIHDA), were abducted at the Cebu pier and only released days later after allegedly being interrogated and coerced into admitting that they were communist rebels.
“Despite this victory, the threat to civic space remains. Even now, proposals such as the so-called ‘terror-grooming’ bill filed by fugitive Senator Ronald dela Rosa threaten to further expand the State’s power to target dissent, activism, and community organizing under the guise of counterterrorism,” CERNET said.
The NGO said it would pursue criminal, administrative, and civil actions against those who sought the “malicious and wrongful prosecution” of CERNET’s members.
“Those who orchestrated, enabled, and perpetuated these baseless accusations must be held accountable under the law,” said Oliver Gimenez, chairperson of the CERNET Board of Trustees.
The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), meanwhile, said the case showed the continuing weaponization of counterterrorism laws against humanitarian work and legitimate advocacy.
“These laws grant executive agencies sweeping powers with immediate and punitive consequences, often before any meaningful judicial scrutiny can take place,” read a NUPL statement on Tuesday, May 19.
The NUPL called on the justice department to dismiss or withdraw charges filed without sufficient legal basis or based on fabricated evidence. – Rappler.com
