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Bayan Muna Party-List Rep. Zarate etc. vs. H.E. Benigno C. Aquino III [DISSENTING OPINION, LEONEN, J.]

BAYAN MUNA PARTY-LIST REP. CARLOS ISAGANI T. ZARATE, GABRIELA WOMEN'S PARTY REP. EMERENCIANA DE JESUS, FORMER ANAKPAWIS PARTY-LIST REP. RAFAEL V. MARIANO, FORMER BAYAN MUNA PARTYLIST REP. TEODORO CASINO, CRISTINA PALABAY, SR. MARY FRANCIS ANOVER, REV. IRMA M. BALABA, JACQUILINE RUIZ, HEIRS OF FORMER ANAKPAWIS PARTY-LIST REP. CRISPIN BELTRAN, Represented by OFELIA BELTRAN BALLETA, Petitioners, v. H.E. BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III, IN HIS CAPACITY AS THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES, ET AL., Respondents

G.R. No. 220028 | 2015-11-10

EN BANC 
DISSENTING OPINION
 
This case involves the phenomenon of "red baiting." It is our version of McCarthyism.[1]

To make it easy for military and paramilitary units to silence or cause untold human rights abuses on vocal dissenters, government agents usually resort to stereotyping or caricaturing individuals. This is accomplished by providing witnesses who, under coercive and intimidating conditions, identify the leaders of organizations critical of the administration as masterminds of ordinary criminal acts. Not only does this make these leaders' lives and liberties vulnerable, a chilling effect on dissent is...