Sotto, others ‘branding’ those who oppose or are afraid of the anti-terrorism bill as terrorists or supporters bares the bill’s dangers

“Ang dapat matakot lang dito ay terorista at sumusuporta sa terorista pero kung taumbayan walang dapat ikatakot. Lahat ng safeguard natin andyan,” Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, one of the bill’s principal sponsors, said in a radio interview on June 3.

[Only terrorists and their supporters should be scared of this bill, but the public has nothing to be scared of. All safeguards are there.]

“That is exactly the problem. This bill allows the government to do that, to the Anti-Terrorism Council and say we designate this group, we designate these people as terrorists just because they are against the Anti-Terror bill,” former Ateneo School of Government Dean and Constitutional Law educator Atty. Antonio La Viña said on ANC’s Headstart on June 3.

La Viña criticized Sotto’s remark, that ‘brands’ those opposed to the bill as either terrorists or supporters of terrorists.

Despite Sotto’s assurance, he just exposed the dangers of the bill: that even dissent to the measure may be viewed or used to tag a person as a terrorist or a supporter of a terrorist.

Sotto’s statement – one echoed by many supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte and some would say as part of the ‘official script’ – would be most alarming as more than 596,000 have signed a petition to junk the ‘terror bill’. It would not be reassuring as every day since the House Committees on Public Order and Safety and on National Defense and Security adopted and approved the Senate’s approved version on May 29, #JUNKTERRORBILLNOW, #JunkTerrorBill and #OustDuterte have been trending topics.

This would be most alarming for it is as if he is trying to tell people to not have such an opinion of the bill if they do not consider themselves as terrorists or their supporter.

The assurance that this bill would not be used on ordinary citizens could only be as good as the government’s counterinsurgency body headed by Duterte engaging in red-tagging activists, human rights defenders, journalists and media organizations. In the bill, there is a provision for a “preliminary order to proscribe” persons or individuals as terrorists by the Anti-Terrorism Council, that shall be composed of more or less the same agencies and officials from the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.

Who are these activists? They are the likes of Kadamay Deputy Secretary General Carlito Badion, brutally killed on May 28. They are those like cultural worker Marlon Maldos in Bohol, peasant leader Nora Apique in Surigao del Sur, peasant leader John Farochilin in Iloilo, Bayan Muna founding member and relief volunteer Jory Porquia in Iloilo, and peasant leader Allan “Mano Boy” Aguilando in Northern Samar. All of them were constantly harassed and recently red-tagged or received death threats before their death and their groups point to police or military elements as responsible for their killing. These activists were critics of the government and the system of society. They were ordinary citizens.

They demanded land reform when government had a law and a government agency for that  but peasant landlessness continue to drive them to hunger or to the cities in search for ‘greener pastures.’ They end up as urban poor and informal settlers fighting for their homes when government would demolish their homes for a ‘development’ project. They are artists who perform on the streets, who like Maldos, wanted the people to never forget the atrocities of Martial Law against farmers in his performances. They are relief volunteers like Porquia, who raised criticisms on the government’s program and actions and raised and organized the people’s consciousness on their basic human rights and just demands of their sectors at the same time.

The assurance that the anti-terrorism bill would not be used against ordinary citizens is probably as good as Duterte threatening to arrest all his critics.

“I will arrest all of you. I will put you together with the criminals, rebels, and drug lords,” he told the annual conference of the country’s prosecutors.

That was on April 4, 2019, only a year ago.

“If you make it hard for me, I will declare a revolutionary war until the end of my term…I’m willing to die,” said Duterte.

Senate bill authors assure public of bill’s safeguards

Sotto and Senator Panfilo Lacson said the bill has enough safeguards to ensure that state forces would not abuse the powers granted under the bill.

There was widespread public backlash from all quarters and sectors when the Lower House of Congress voted to approve the bill on third and final reading on June 3 at around 6pm.

“The Anti-terrorism Act of 2020 aims to secure our country and protect our people from domestic and foreign terrorists like the Abu Sayyaf and the ISIS. As author and principal sponsor, I made sure that it adheres to the Bill of Rights as enumerated in the 1987 Constitution,” posted Lacson on his Twitter account early morning of June 4, one of the authors and principal authors of the bill.

The Anti-terrorism Act of 2020 aims to secure our country and protect our people from domestic and foreign terrorists like the Abu Sayyaf and the ISIS. As author and principal sponsor, I made sure that it adheres to the Bill of Rights as enumerated in the 1987 Constitution.

— PING LACSON (@iampinglacson) June 3, 2020

However, netizens responded to Lacson saying the same such statement was used by Ferdinand Marcos, Sr. to declare martial law.

Others said Lacson’s assurance does not stand against this onion-skinned government and other law enforcers who may use the law in all eagerness – in the same way the Bayanihan to Heal As One Law or the Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act or Republic Act 11332 were used to apprehend more than 180,000 and arrest more than 30,000 even when there is no criminal liability in these laws that punish with detention violations on curfew and social distancing.

The recent dismissal of the case against former Anakpawis solon and relief workers on violations of the Republic Act 11332 exposes police abuse during lockdown.

The cases of teachers Ronnel Mas of Zambales and Juliet Espinosa and her son in General Santos and Ronald Quiboyen of Aklan – all charged with inciting to sedition for speaking out their mind and posting their thoughts online – also do not provide any comfort.

Others questioned the timing of the bill at a time when people would have a hard time to mobilize against it.

It was also railroaded (took one committee session, three plenary sessions despite many provisions being contested because all proposed amendments were rejected) at a time the government pandemic response and longest lockdown in the world has only merited a steadily increasing number of COVID-19 cases.

Despite the double talk of the government of where we are at in curbing the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, we have not seen a day without a COVID-19 positive case since March 6. There are also additional COVID-19 cases among health workers every day since April, except there were days like Saturdays or weekends the Department of Health does not report on the cases among health workers.

The anti-terrorism bill now only needs Duterte’s signature for it to become law.