26 Righting Wrongs: Criminal Law Provisions in the Philippines related to National Security and their Impact on Human Rights Defenders Furthermore, under Article 146, any person found to be carrying an unlicensed firearm while attending an illegal assembly described under this provision shall be presumed to be the leader or organizer of the said meeting. It shall also be presumed, insofar as the said person is concerned, that the said meeting is for the purpose of committing acts punishable under the RPC. This is inconsistent with the principle of presumption of innocence expressly guaranteed under the 1987 Constitution (“in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved169 The right of all persons charged with a criminal offence to the presumption of innocence is also embodied in Article 14 of the ICCPR. B.P.880, which requires prior authorization of assemblies, is also inconsistent with the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. The UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association has clarified that prior authorization should not be necessary. In particular, the UN Special Rapporteur clarified that the law should not require previous authorization by authorities. At most, it should require (not unduly bureaucratic) notification, so as allow the authorities to facilitate the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly and to take measures to protect public safety and public order and the rights and freedoms of others170 The fact that under Article 15 of B.P. 880, public assemblies without a permit may take place in designated “freedom parks” does not justify a permit requirement for assemblies which are intended to be held elsewhere to meet their objective and/or reaching a target audience. It should be noted that the freedom parks in most places do not provide access to significant audiences and are difficult to identify. Thus a restriction of assemblies to only such parks would be a disproportionate restriction of the right to peaceful assembly, in cases in which it would undermine the object and purpose of the assembly’s reaching a target audience. 171 Furthermore Section 12 of B.P. 880, which permits the dispersal of a public assembly that is held without a permit, when such is required, also contravenes international standards safeguarding the right to peaceful assembly. In particular the UN Special Rapporteur has clarified that even if a public assembly held is without notification, it should not be automatically dispersed. In the absence of any unlawful conduct by the participants during the demonstration, dispersal of the demonstration would be a disproportionate restriction on the right to freedom of assembly. 172 Sections 13(a) and 14(1) of B.P. 880, punishing organizers of assemblies that take place without permits with one month and one day to six months imprisonment solely for organizing such an assembly are inconsistent with international standards. Among other things, the UN Special Rapporteur has stated that organizers of assemblies held without a permit should not be subject to criminal or administrative sanctions such as fines or imprisonment for failure to notify the authorities. Nor should either organizers of or participants in an assembly be subject to punishment solely for illegal actions caused by other participants of assemblies they organized, or participated in.173 This would be a violation of the principle of individual criminal responsibility and the prohibition of collective punishment. Interviews with human rights defenders reveal that applications for permits filed pursuant to B.P. 880 are often denied on the ground that the public assembly would cause serious traffic congestion. This, for example, was the case when the left-leaning political group Bayan174 applied for a permit to hold a rally during President Aquino’s fourth State of the Nation Address in July 2013. Bayan’s application was reportedly denied by the Quezon City Government, because of the “serious traffic problem” it would 169 Article III, Section 14(2) of the 1987 Constitution 170 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, UN Doc. A/HRC/20/27 (2012) at paras. 28, 90. 171 Ibid. at para 40. 172 Ibid. at para 29 . 173 Ibid. at paras 29, 93. 174 Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), or New Patriotic Alliance, is an alliance made up primarily of organizations of workers and peasants that, among other activities, promotes socio-economic relief and rehabilitation projects, advocates on behalf of human rights victims of the Marcos and Arroyo administrations, and supports all efforts promoting world peace. Bayan, “What is Bayan?”, Bayan. http://www.bayan.ph/site/about/ (Accessed August 2014).