MANILA, Philippines — Citing National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.’s red-tagging done before the open court, petitioners against the anti-terrorism law asked the tribunal to cancel the military officer’s appearance in the oral arguments setting set on Monday. In a two-page omnibus motion on Friday, petitioners also asked the Supreme Court to delete or expunge from records Esperon’s oral statements, video presentation and annotations in May 12 setting of the debates. The NSA also asked to play another video of Sison where he supposedly named several progressive organizations, including some petitioners, as fronts of the communist rebellion. The organizations named in Esperon’s video, some of which are petitioners themselves, were also not given the opportunity to rebut the NSA’s indictments, they said. Retired Chief Justice Reynato Puno and former Associate Justice Francis Jardeleza, named amici curiae (friends of court), will also present their statements on Monday.

Source: Philippine Star May 14, 2021 09:22 UTC