NUPL WELCOMES DISMISSAL OF TERRORISM FINANCING CHARGES AGAINST CERNET
The accused were charged under Section 8(ii), in relation to Section 9, of Republic Act No. 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act for allegedly failing to prevent the delivery of ₱135,000 to the New People’s Army in September 2012, only months after the law took effect on June 18, 2012. The court granted the Joint Motion to Dismiss, ruling that the acts charged did not constitute an offense.
May 18, 2026
NUPL
The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers is a nationwide voluntary association of human rights lawyers in the Philippines, committed to the defense, protection, and promotion of human rights, especially of the poor and the oppressed.

Press Release

18 May 2026

The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) welcomes the Order issued today by Regional Trial Court Branch 74 in Cebu City dismissing the terrorism financing charges against the Community Empowerment Resource Network, Inc. (CERNET), its officers, and council members.

The accused were charged under Section 8(ii), in relation to Section 9, of Republic Act No. 10168 or the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act for allegedly failing to prevent the delivery of ₱135,000 to the New People’s Army in September 2012, only months after the law took effect on June 18, 2012. The court granted the Joint Motion to Dismiss, ruling that the acts charged did not constitute an offense.

Section 15 of R.A. 10168 clearly requires the Department of Foreign Affairs to publish the list of designated persons before any designation can have legal effect in the Philippines. No such publication had been made as of September 2012. The first official domestic action designating the NPA, Proclamation No. 374, was issued only on December 5, 2017, while the ATC resolution came later, in December 2020. We note, however, that the prosecution’s reliance on earlier foreign designations to supply the missing element is constitutionally untenable on an additional ground. In Calleja v. Executive Secretary, the Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the second mode of designation under Section 25 of R.A. 11479, precisely because automatic adoption of foreign and supranational designations without adequate safeguards cannot pass constitutional muster (NUPL is pursuing the same constitutional challenge against Proclamation No. 374 in other proceedings).

Without official publication, there was no legally operative “designated person or organization” that could serve as the basis for a charge under Section 8(ii). One of the essential elements of the offense was absent from the start. The case should never have been filed.

The prosecution’s attempt to rely on Philippine Star news reports on foreign designations made years before R.A. 10168 was enacted cannot substitute for the publication expressly required by law. To treat newspaper clippings as sufficient notice is legally indefensible and contrary to basic due process.

The case highlights 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.

NUPL calls on the Department of  Justice to dismiss or withdraw charges without sufficient legal basis or based on fabricated evidence. Prosecutors who pursue and maintain cases they know, or ought to know, are legally defective must be held accountable. ###

Reference:

Atty. Josalee S. Deinla

NUPL Secretary General

+639174316396

📸  Photo credit: Rappler

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