The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers called on Congress to repeal Batas Pambansa Blg. 880, or the law requiring permits for public assemblies in public places, saying it suppresses dissent and undermines the constitutional right to peaceably assemble.
The NUPL said BP 880 allows the “shadow of authoritarianism” to persist because it requires prior state approval for the right to collective action.
“BP 880 and the legal doctrines upholding it are not harmless administrative rules. In practice, they give public officials a legal weapon to block accountability and shield themselves from public outrage,” the NUPL said in a statement.
It said that when Filipinos gather for collective action, it is done not on a whim but out of necessity, such as when fighting corruption or fighting for the country.
It called BP 880 undemocratic for serving as prior restraint and for suppressing spontaneous dissent, since it requires the application for the permit to be filed five days prior to the assembly.
It also said this law is undemocratic because confining protests that do not need permits to freedom parks neuters their impact.
“A picket outside an abusive agency or a march down a major thoroughfare carries meaning that an empty park cannot. In protest, the place is part of the message,” it said.
It said the law also allows the police to break up rallies simply for lacking paperwork, when they should only be allowed to intervene if there is actual violence or an imminent threat to public safety.
Another issue is the law targets the organizers of the protest by imposing penalties on them for lack of permit, even for a peaceful rally. It said this criminalizes leadership.
The NUPL urged the Supreme Court, should it be faced with another abuse case, to overturn its ruling in Bayan v. Ermita that upheld the constitutionality of BP 880.
It asked the court to declare peaceful public assembly to be presumptively lawful.
It also called on Congress to repeal BP 880 outright to protect the right to peaceably assemble, which is directly guaranteed by the Constitution.
“Dissent is not a threat to democracy; it is its lifeblood. As we honor those who resisted the dictatorship, we must dismantle the legal infrastructure that carries its authoritarian habits into the present,” it said.