“We are still in disbelief about the manner in which the contentious Anti-Terror Bill was fast-tracked and approved in both Houses of Congress while the whole country’s attention was focused on the Covid-19 pandemic,” said the Pastoral Letter of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on July 19, signed by Most Rev. Pablo Virgilio S. David, D.D.
David is the acting president of CBCP and the Bishop of Kalookan.
The letter lamented how “dissenting voices were strong but they remained unheeded” as the legislators gave in to political pressure from above, as the public would also soon find out if the highest level of the judiciary will assert its independence in deciding on the several petitions filed challenging the law or if they, too, will succumb to political pressure.
The letter said many of the people the members of Congress represent were against it—lawyers’ associations, the academe, the business sector, labor groups, youth organizations, NGO’s, political movements, faith-based communities, and even the Bangsamoro government
The letter also lamented how the law was passed despite legal experts citing “oppressive and inconsistent with our Constitution” and how the new law poses “serious threat to the fundamental freedoms of all peaceful Filipinos.”
“We know full well that it is one thing to be actually involved in a crime and another thing to be merely suspected or accused of committing a crime,” said in the letter.
As examples, the letter cited people active in social advocacies who are accused of being communists, the bishops, priests and religious who were included among those falsely charged by the Philippine National Police with crimes of sedition and inciting to sedition, the thousands killed in police operations on the basis of mere suspicion of involvement in criminality and illegal drugs, and the continued detention of Senator Leila de Lima also on the basis of mere allegations among others.
The letter also made example of media personalities harassed by a multitude of criminal charges and the shutdown and denial of the franchise of ABS-CBN.
“Is it not evident to us how this pattern of intimidation creates an atmosphere detrimental to the freedom of expression in our country?,” asked David.
David said the return of warrantless detentions were also reminiscent of initial moves in 1972, the year Martial Law was declared by Ferdinand Marcos, Sr., leading to “the fall of democracy and the rise of a dictatorial regime that terrorized the country for fourteen years.”
“It all began when an elected president also legalized the “ASSOs” (arrest, search and seizure orders). It was from there that we gradually sank into the mire of authoritarian rule,” reminded David.
An Anti-Terrorism Council, a presidentially-appointed body, may designate organizations or persons as terrorists or their supporters, who may then be arrested. These persons may be detained without warrant from 10 days, extendible to 24 days under the new law. They would also not be compensated for every day of wrongful detention, which was provided in the Human Security Act of 2007 that the Anti-Terrorism Law repealed.
President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law what the public dubbed as “terror bill” on July 3, making it the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020. The law became effective on July 18.
