Why Lawyers, Other Groups Terrified By Duterte’s Anti-Terror Bill
ANTI-TERROR BILL – Here’s why lawyers and other groups are terrified by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s new Anti-Terror Bill.
On Monday, June 1, Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte sent a letter to House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano certifying the ‘Anti-terror bill as urgent. 173 legislators supported the controversial bill.
Now, it only needs to be signed by the 75-year-old chief executive. Lots of Filipino netizens including the celebrities questioned why they are prioritizing that bill amid the 2019 novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Some say they will use it against Duterte’s critics.
In a previous article, a Pinoy Swiftie uploaded a screengrab of Taylor Swift’s Instagram Story on Twitter. She thanked her idol for supporting her countrymen’s call to junk the terror bill.
Miss Universe titleholders Catriona Gray and Pia Wurtzbach recently took to their social media account to speak against the controversial Anti-terror bill. Both of them said the Philippine government should be focusing more on the pressing issues in the country.
Some lawyers and groups were terrified by Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s Anti-terror bill. Based on a report from One News, one of the bill’s striking amendments states that there is a probability that terrorism suspects may be kept in custody without being charged in court.
The National Union of People’s Lawyer said its “mere inkling of involvement and engagement in indefinable acts of terrorism.” While the Concerned Lawyers for Civil Liberties (CLCL) said the extended period in detention is unconstitutional.
According to the report, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana previously said that the law enforcement agencies want to keep suspect for longer hours. “We want a longer detention period so that we can hold the suspect if he is really a terrorist. He cannot commit a terror act. We do not have time to substantiate your charges. You cannot research. You cannot make any allegations. So, 36 hours are too short,” he said.
National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) previously accused student organizations, news websites, and media outfits of being “creations” of the Communist Party of the Philippines.
News5 chief correspondent Ed Lingao said, “this early, we already have members of the Cabinet and their undersecretaries and assistant secretaries red-tagging civil society groups and media organizations as terrorists or terrorist-affiliates.”
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary-general Renato Reyes said the Anti-terrorism Council would be composed of ex-generals. Here said there is a great chance that they will abuse their power. He said, “No hearings. No chance to defend yourself. They’re not even a court. How is this not wrong?”
Based on the report, the Association of Law Students of the Philippines (ALSP) stated that “individuals and groups have the basic right to gather and engage in peaceful demonstrations and protests by virtue of their freedom to peaceful assembly.”
The Ateneo Human Rights Center sees the Anti-terror bill as a “tool for repression rather than for thwarting terrorism.”
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