ANGELES UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND ARCHITECTURE

Readings in Philippine History

MODULE 4.1

Controversies in Philippine History

Position Paper

Gabriel Iverson D. Cunan

BS Engineering 1
 Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020

Philippines has been known to be a corrupt country. According to transparency

international, Philippines fall at one of the most corrupt countries in the world. On March 14,
2007 the Philippines topped the charts. Sadly, this was not a competition that any country would
try to win. The Philippines ended as the top of a perception survey, conducted by Political &
Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC), that ranked the Philippines as the most corrupt country in
Asia among 13 different countries. The Philippines scored a 9.40 out of 10. While Indonesia and
Thailand tied for the second most corrupt at 8.03. The Anti-Terrorism Bill is very important and
essential to the country to protect its people, but if we were to give our CORRUPT government
absolute power and authority, what will happen? Giving power to irresponsible individuals will
result into chaos. This may lead to the abuse of power and authority wherein no justice will be
prevailed.

If we were to implement the Anti-Terrorism Bill, we’ll be giving power to reckless

people who don’t have a proper sense of responsibility. The Philippines has always been known
to be a country filled with poverty, we are flooded with debts that amount to 8.6 trillion
Philippine Pesos. If we try focus our energy on solving ACTUAL problems like helping the poor
or fixing our economy then step by step we can actually attain our goals and have progress. But
instead, our government thinks that if we were to pass a Bill that gives the government more
power over its people then the problems and issues of our country will be solved. The Anti-
Terrorism Bill also endangers our human rights. It’s a disaster in the making, the Anti-Terrorism
Bill suffocates our basic human rights like freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and
freedom of the press. Minimalizing or removing entirely our freedom of speech is a very serious
thing, we will not have any chance to defend ourselves or express ourselves, say if you were
being accused as a terrorist and you won’t be given any chances to defend yourself, what would
you do?

One of the greatest risks of the Anti-Terrorism Bill is that it broadens the meaning of the
word “terrorism”. The law greatly expands the definition of terrorism. Imagine that if you merely
post and criticize the government in any forms of social media it can be considered as terrorism.
If try to target or criticize the government, you can be categorized as a terrorist.
 In conclusion, if we were to implement the Anti-Terror Bill, our human rights will be
heavily impacted, our freedom of speech can be classified as an act of terrorism. We’ll be giving
too much power to our government and military so much that they can abuse their power and we
will have an imbalance on the justice system. Implementing the Anti-Terror Bill comes with a
huge risk that we must all carefully examine first before we make any rash decisions.

Sources:

Ky D. Johnson (2007) The Philippines: The Most Corrupt Country in Asia?

https://asiafoundation.org/2007/03/28/in-the-philippines-is-it-the-most-corrupt-country-in-asia/

(2017) Which Asian countries are the most corrupt?

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30305692

(2020) Philippines: Dangerous anti-terror law yet another setback for human rights

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/philippines-dangerous-antiterror-law-yet-
another-setback-for-human-rights/

(2020) Why Rights Groups Worry About The Philippines' New Anti-Terrorism Law

https://www.npr.org/2020/07/21/893019057/why-rights-groups-worry-about-the-philippines-
new-anti-terrorism-law

(2020) Philippines: New Anti-Terrorism Act Endangers Rights

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/05/philippines-new-anti-terrorism-act-endangers-rights