Nationwide round-up

Ressa travel plea rejected

THE COURT of Appeals has rejected the plea of Maria A. Ressa, founder of news website Rappler, Inc. to travel overseas pending appeal of her conviction for cyber-libel.

The former CNN investigative journalist who is critical of the Duterte government had failed to prove the urgency and necessity of her overseas travel, the appellate court said in an Aug. 18 resolution.

“There is no basis to grant her motion,” according to a copy of the court’s seven-page order.

Ms. Ressa sought permission to go to the US so she could attend a couple of journalist events. She wanted to leave on Aug. 23 and return to the Philippines on Sept. 19.

A Manila court convicted Ms. Ressa and Rappler’s former researcher Reynaldo Santos, Jr. for cyber-libel in June.

They were sentenced to an indeterminate six months to six years in jail and were ordered to pay businessman Wilfredo D. Keng P400,000 in moral and exemplary damages.

Ms. Ressa and Mr. Santos are both out on bail.

“The bail puts the accused under the jurisdiction of the court, and it operates as a valid restriction in a person’s right to travel,” the court said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Pooled testing to start soon

THE GOVERNMENT will soon start pooled coronavirus testing as local physicians complete their evaluation of the method, according to the Department of Health (DoH).

Other countries have allowed pooled testing for COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) to expand checks for the coronavirus and use fewer testing resources.

“We are still finalizing the evaluation of this pooled testing because it has to go through the evaluation by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and Philippine Society of Pathologists,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario S. Vergeire told an online news briefing on Wednesday.

The doctors presented their initial results on Monday, she said, adding that pooled testing would start as soon as they finish the evaluation.

Ms. Vergeire said pooled testing would benefit the country as the government enforces expanded testing protocols.

In pooled testing, specimens from several people are pooled in a single polymerase chain reaction or PCR test. There is no need to test people belonging to the pool if the result is negative.

If a pooled test is positive, people whose specimens came from the pool will be tested individually.

Ms. Vergeire said there are situations where pooled testing is more effective, such as in non-hotspot areas. On the other hand, the method is ineffective in areas where there is a big number of COVID-19 patients.

She said Makati City has a pooled-testing project with Project Ark that will start as soon as the evaluation is finished. Other local governments were interested in the method, she added. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Infected cops reach 3,035

THE NUMBER of coronavirus-infected policemen has breached the 3,000 mark, according to data from the Philipine National Police.

Fifty-five more police officers have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, bringing the total to 3,035.

The death toll remained at 13, while 2,221 or 73% of the personnel have recovered, police spokesman Brigadier General Bernard Banac said on Wednesday.

He said 30 of the new patients had been assigned in Metro Manila, including four at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

Three were assigned in the Calabarzon — Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon — region, two each in Central Visayas and Zamboanga peninsula, and one each in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Western Visayas.

The remaining 15 were assigned in various national administrative and operational units of the police, according to Mr. Banac.

At least 3,177 police officers were being monitored after showing symptoms or getting in contact with COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) patients. — Emmanuel Tupas, Philippine Star

Another anti-terror suit filed

YOUTH LEADERS have asked the Supreme Court to strike down the law that expanded the scope of terror crimes in the country.

In a 105-page petition, members of Sangguiniang Kabataan and other local youth leaders said the Anti-Terrorism Act involves “direct and unequivocal violation of constitutional safeguards.”

“So long as it is in effect, this law maintains an atmosphere of fear — the proverbial ‘chilling effect’ — that deters the free and full exercise of fundamental rights,” according to a copy of the lawsuit.

“The law poses a danger not just for collective and individual rights, but for democracy as a whole,” it added.

Similar to other lawsuits before it, the new suit questioned the vague definitions of terrorism, which allegedly violates the right to due process and infringes freedom of speech, expression, right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association.

The youth leaders also questioned a clause in the law allowing law enforcers to arrest a suspect without a warrant based on suspicion and orders by the Anti-Terrorism Council.

Rights against unreasonable searches and seizures and the right to be presumed innocent were also violated by the law, they said.

The law also violates the separation of powers provided by the Constitution since only judges can issue arrest warrants, according to the lawsuit.

“By providing that arrest may be carried out based on written authority given by the council, section 29 amounts to a usurpation of a function vested by the Constitution exclusively in the Judiciary,” the youth leaders said.. “It violates the principle of separation of powers.”

With the Anti-Terrorism Act, “it would be taking a huge step in the wrong direction; even a leap straight into the bowels of tyranny.”

The law that took effect on July 18 considers attacks that cause death or serious injury, extensive damage to property and manufacture, possession, acquisition, transport and supply of weapons or explosives as terrorist acts.

It also allows the government to detain a suspect without a warrant for 14 days from three days previously.

The council, which is made up of Cabinet officials, can perform acts reserved for courts such as ordering the arrest of suspected terrorists.

The Supreme Court will hold oral arguments in the third week of September at the earliest on several lawsuits against the law, spokesman Brian Keith F. Hosaka said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas