Cordillera group wants freeze order on assets lifted

THE Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA) yesterday asked the Supreme Court to lift the freeze order issued by the Anti-Money Laundering Council on its assets and bank accounts.

In a petition for review on certiorari, the CPA asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction to stop the AMLC from enforcing its freeze order.

It also asked the High Court to reverse and set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeals upholding the AMLC’s freeze order.

The AMLC issued the freeze order in July 2023 after four of the CPA’s leaders – Windel Bolinget, Stephen Tauli, Sarah Abellon Alikes, and Jennifer Awingan Taggaoa – were designated as terrorists by the Anti-Terrorism Council under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

The four have a pending petition with the Baguio City Regional Trial Court questioning the ATC’s designation.

Last February, the appellate court dismissed the CPA’s petition questioning the order freezing the group’s assets and bank accounts.

CPA Secretary-General Sarah Dekdekan said they have no recourse but to elevate the matter to the SC as the freeze order and the subsequent decision by the CA have affected their operations, including their program to provide aid to victims affected by typhoons and other natural disasters.

“We are here at the SC to file our petition for certiorari or to ask the SC to review and reverse the CA decision freezing the bank accounts of CPA,” Dekdekan said.

Describing the appellate court’s decision as “arbitrary and unjust,” Dekdekan said the High Court needs to reverse the decision, saying there is no basis for the ATC’s designation of their leaders as terrorists.

Dekdekan said the CPA has stood for the rights of indigenous peoples in the Cordillera and has never engaged in terrorism.

“What we are doing is to fight for the rights of the indigenous peoples in Cordillera,” she said. “We reiterate our stand that we have not done acts of terrorism that would serve as a basis to describe us as terrorists.”

The group also asked the High Court to set oral arguments on their petition so they can prove that provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act