Senate President Vicente Sotto III and Senator Panfilo Lacson on Saturday underscored the need for Congress to come up with a new anti-terror law to deal with external and internal terrorism threats amid the government’s self-reliance thrust.
Sotto, the principal author of the proposed Anti-Terror Act of 2020, and Lacson, chairman of the Senate Committee on National Defense who sponsored the measure, said lawmakers urgently need to update the existing Anti-Terror Law.
He said this will give the military and defense agencies more teeth in addressing the growing threat of terrorism to the country, especially in Mindanao.
The House of Representatives, Sotto said, can come up with their own version of the measure or adopt the version that was approved by the Senate on third reading last Feb. 26.
“I believe our colleagues from the House understand the urgency of this bill to be enacted into law. I hope that they come up with their own version the soonest possible so we can reduce the risks to the lives of our people,” Sotto said.
Lacson said it is high time the Philippines became proactive in fighting the threat of terrorism, and the bill approved by the Senate by a 19-2 vote last Wednesday would be a great help toward this end.
He added the Senate version of the bill, which under his sponsorship underwent rigorous interpellation from his colleagues, contains safeguards against possible abuse.
“With this measure, we will become proactive in the fight against terrorism. We will finally have the needed legislative tools to send the message to terrorists both local and foreign that they are not welcome here,” Lacson said.
Several militant organizations have expressed opposition to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, saying anyone could be deemed terrorist and jailed from 12 years to a lifetime.
“Practically anyone who is arbitrarily branded or deemed as a ‘terrorist’ could be penalized under the approved bill,” said Danilo Ramos, chairperson of Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas.
Under EO 70, the government has already institutionalized the branding and tagging of activists as ‘communists-terrorists.’ We oppose these draconian measures that will further abuse human rights and oppress Filipinos,” Ramos added.
The militants also opposed Executive Order No. 70, which is “Institutionalizing the Whole-of-Nation approach in attaining inclusive and sustainable peace, creating a National Task Force to end local communist armed conflict, and directing the adoption of a national peace framework.”
On February 26, the Senate voted 19-2 and approved on third and final reading the measure the consolidated measures to amend and effectively repeal Human Security Act (HSA) of 2007, what proponents of the amendments call a “weak law against terrorism”, and replace it with the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
The group said the bill, if passed, will also hold liable any person who has knowledge of a commission of a “terrorist” act, despite having no direct participation therein, but profited or assisted the offender by concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or by harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principal or conspirator of the crime.
The penalty and jail time for such violations range from 12 years to lifetime imprisonment
Human Rights group Karapatan also denounced the Senate’s approval of the anti-terrorism bill.
“The Senate version contains provisions that will legalize surveillance, warrantless arrests and arbitrary detention, cruel and disproportionate punishments, and violations on the right to freedom of association, free expression, right to privacy, mobility, and to due process. It also removes provisions from the present law regarding the rights-based approach to counter-terrorism as well as the compensation for wrongful detention,” said the group in as statement.
Karapatan said the proposed measure, if passed into law, will only redound to graver human rights violations against communities, groups and individuals that may lead to crimes against humanity.
“We have witnessed how the powers of the State and its security forces have been used to trample on basic rights and fundamental freedoms. We have no doubt that especially under the Duterte administration with anti-terror legislation, such powers will be used with impunity against critics and political dissenters to preserve the current oppressive status quo,” said Karapatan.