Cordillera People’s Alliance leaders ask Court of Appeals to remove terrorist tag

MANILA, Philippines — Four indigenous rights defenders and leaders of the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) have appealed before the Court of Appeals, filing a Joint Memorandum on Appeal to challenge their designation as "terrorist individuals" by the government.

The appellants—Windel Bolinget, Sarah Abellon-Alikes, Jennifer Awingan-Taggaoa and Stephen A. Tauli—are seeking to overturn an April 30, 2026 decision by the Baguio City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 78, which denied their petition to invalidate the designation under the Anti-Terrorism Law (ATL). 

In their plea to the Court of Appeals, the activists are asking the court to declare the third paragraph of Section 25 of the ATL unconstitutional, to annul their designation, and to lift the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) freeze order on their assets

Under the Anti-Terrorism Law, a designation is one of the processes used to label someone a terrorist under the Anti-Terrorism Law. 

Once designated, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), through the AMLC, may freeze the assets of the individual.

The case stemmed from the June 7, 2023 designation order of the Anti-Terrorism Council designating the four activists as terrorists.

Following the designation, the AMLC froze the personal bank accounts of the rights activist, their family members, and the CPA itself.

According to the activists' plea, the appellants only discovered they had been designated on July 10, 2023, when CPA Secretary General Sarah Dekdeken attempted a routine transaction at a BDO Unibank branch in Baguio City and was informed the account was frozen.

The appellants argue that the domestic designation process under Section 25, paragraph 3 of the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020 is fundamentally unconstitutional as applied to them.

They contend that the law permits the ATC to brand individuals as terrorists ex parte — behind closed doors, without prior notice, and without giving the accused an opportunity to refute the allegations before they are penalized.

The law subjects designated persons to a process without prior notice of the basis of the designation, a venue to counter such basis prior to their designation, and procedural modes of higher judicial review," the activists argued in their joint brief.

'Presumption of regularity' challenged

In denying the activists' initial petition, the Baguio RTC ruled that the ATC is presumed to have performed its official duties regularly.

The activists argued the trial court misapplied this presumption. They point to the testimony of the ATC’s own witness, former Executive Director Ser-me Ayuyao, who detailed a highly bureaucratic, multi-stage internal review process but failed to provide basic details, such as the dates of deliberations, the number of meetings held, or the specific evidence considered.

“However, the Trial Court failed to note the fact that the procedure recited by Atty. Ayuyao shows that the appellants were never given proper notice or a chance to dispute the allegations against them. It is evident from the recital by the witness that appellee ATC completely ignored the constitutional rights of the appellants,” the petitioner’s brief said. 

Furthermore, the appellants argue that the trial court erroneously applied the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Calleja v. Executive Secretary under the principle of stare decisis. 

While Calleja case upheld the facial constitutionality of Section 25, the Supreme Court explicitly noted that its review was limited to facial challenges regarding free speech and did not preclude future "as-applied" challenges based on actual implementation and proven facts.

The CPA, founded in 1984, is a registered non-profit organization that has lobbied the United Nations and the Philippine government for indigenous land rights and regional autonomy.

The appellants argue that the "terrorist" designation has functioned as a "scarlet letter," severely chilling their protected speech and advocacy work. They also noted that the freezing of CPA’s bank accounts has caused "irreparable injury" to grassroots community development and disaster-response programs in the Cordillera region.