On technical ground, the Court of Appeals has dismissed outright the petition filed by the Alliance of Concerned Teachers to stop the Philippine National Police from profiling and obtaining the list of its member-teachers in public and private schools.
In a resolution written by Associate Justice Nina G. Antonio-Valenzuela, the CA cited four infirmities in the ACT petition:
1. “The Petition is not accompanied by certified true copies of the various assailed PNP Memoranda, in violation of Rule 65, Section 2, Rules of Court in relation to Rule 46, Section 3, Rules of Court.
2. “The Petition does not indicate the material dates when the petitioners (ACT) received the various assailed PNP Memoranda, in violation of Rule 46, Section 3, of the Rules of Court.
3. “The Petition does not indicate the current date of issuance of the IBP (Integrated Bar of the Philippines) Membership Number of the petitioners’ counsel, in violation of Bar Matter Number 287 dated 26 September 2000.
4. “The Petition does not indicate the current date of issuance of the Professional Tax Number (PTR) of the petitioners’ counsel, in violation of Bar Matter Number 1132 dated 12 November 2002.”
In its petition, ACT pleaded for the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order that would stop the PNP immediately from implementing its memoranda on the inventory of the group’s members.
Led by its chairperson Joselyn Martirez and secretary general Raymond Basilio, ACT assailed as unconstitutional the memoranda issued by the PNP’s intelligence units on the profiling of its members.
It said the memoranda violate its members constitutional right to association, right to assembly, and to petition the government for redress of grievances, right to privacy, freedom of expression, and right to protection of labor.
It pointed out that its members are not involved in any criminal activity and the PNP’s act of profiling its members violates their rights under Article 3, Section 8 in relation to Article 3, Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution. (Rey Panaligan)