Dangers of the Anti-Terrorism Act

“An act to prevent, prohibit and penalize terrorism, thereby repealing R.A. 9372,
otherwise known as the “Human Security Act of 2007””, this is what R.A. 11479 or the Anti-
Terrorism Act (ATA) of 2020 is stating. The law was enacted last July 3 rd, 2020 and
implemented last July 18th, 2020 for the purpose of preventing terrorism and penalizing those
who are deemed as terrorists under the said law. The law states that those who are classified
as terrorists under the law’s description would suffer 12 years imprisonment up to life
imprisonment. A person suspected as a terrorist may be arrested without a warrant of arrest,
may be wiretapped or be under the surveillance of the police. Many human rights groups
believe that this law endangers a citizen’s human rights due to the fact that suspected
terrorists may be imprisoned for weeks even without a charge.

A law that is suspected to endanger our human rights has been passed while the
country is battling the corona virus and during the hard lockdown of the country. The law
gives the government the power to act against groups or individuals that are suspected or
labelled as terrorists under their unclear definition of terrorism. According to Lawyer
Colmenares (2020), for the administration “terrorism is any form of dissent” which includes
criticisms on the government. What makes the law problematic is the part where it is said that
citizens may be arrested if they “incite to terrorism”, which removes a citizen’s freedom of
speech especially now that the government is under fire for their so-called incompetence.
According to Deputy Asia Director at Human’s Rights Watch, Robertson (2020), “the law
will open the door to arbitrary arrests and long prison sentences for people or representatives
of organizations that have displeased the president”. According to Carpio (2020), the ATA
removes the fundamental constitutional right against unreasonable arrests which the
Constitution deemed as an “inviolable” right or a right that must not be removed. Many
people respond to the law with protests and advocacy, even if it means being labelled as
terrorists due to a dissent to the government, this is because they believe that the ATA is
fundamentally dangerous. The National Union of People’s Lawyers agreed to petition the
Supreme Court to demolish the law because they believe that the law is overly broad and
penalizes people without strong evidences. Although the law states that it does not intend to
punish advocacy, strikes, and protests as long as it does not pose a serious risk to public
safety, and according to Sobel (2020), “but who defines what is and what isn’t a serious
risk?”.
 This act becomes the #1 trending topic in the Philippines via Twitter. A lot of Filipino
citizens on social media were alarmed because of this act. Due to this many organizations
such as Anakbayan, Malaya Movement, KalikasanPNE, AMIHAN, and other Human Rights
organization took an action. People not just in the Philippines but also from other countries
joined and supported them. Since we are under the GCQ (General Community Quarantine),
people protested with the use of social media. Many twitter users used their platform to
spread the awareness of this act, they created some cards (a link wherein you can know
something about a certain topic), initiated mass email protest, and petitions to sign.
Additional to this many Human Rights organizations created a protest regarding to this issue.
With the case of corona virus, they still observe physical distancing as they do the “mañanita
protest”. Last June 4, 2020, in solidarity with the current #BlackLivesMatter campaigns in the
United States, Filipino protestors took a knee while criticizing the anti-terror bill at UP
Diliman in Quezon City. Moreover, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, dated last
12th of June, last year, Filipinos observed social distancing as they engage in a protest against
the anti-terror bill of President Duterte, which they argue could be used to quench public
opposition and contribute to further state violations of human rights. In addition to that, on
July 30, 2020, Anakbayan Hawaii protested in Honolulu, Hawaii regarding to this act.
“Mahalo to those who attended today’s protest…Filipinos will suffer a million times more.”,
anakbayanhawaii on Twitter. Holding some placards that has a message written on it such as
“Solusyong MEDIKAL hindi MILITAR”, “TULONG hindi KULONG”, “ACTIVISM IS NOT
A CRIME”, and many more. This proves that the Anti-Terror Bill Act will not just affect the
citizens in the country itself but also Filipinos around the world.

According to La Vina, “The Piston 6, Cebu 8, Iligan 16, and Pride 20 are just few
among those who have been arrested the past few weeks without warrants and have been
detained longer than is necessary. When asked, the police could not provide a violation to
charge them with”. Assessing the current situation of the Philippines, the law should be
abolished due to the fact that there has been widespread of police violence in the country,
wherein policemen abuse their powers to oppress those that are beneath them.