NOV.

25, 2011 DATE

NR # 2598B
REF. NO.

Anti-Terrorism Law threat to civil and political liberties, Mariano says

A lawmaker has moved to repeal Republic Act 9372 or the Anti-Terrorism Law, which he described as anti-people and a threat to civil and political liberties of the Filipino people. Rep. Rafael Mariano (Party-list, Anakpawis), author of House Bill 5444, which seeks to repeal RA 9372 or Human Security Act of 2007, said the law is anti-people because it authorizes preventive detention, warrantless arrest and violates other basic constitutional rights. The law could trample on the entire Bill of Rights and may be used as a tool by the government for the political persecution of legitimate dissenters and political opponents, Mariano said. Citing a study of KARAPATAN, a human rights group, Mariano said that as of June 2011, there are 1,354 cases of extrajudicial killings and 211 victims of enforced disappearances. Mariano said because of vagueness and broadness of the law, a nationwide protest may be considered by the government as a terrorist activity. Democratic protest against oil price hikes, new taxes and increase in utility rates can be classified as acts intended to threaten peace and order with the inevitable destabilizing effects by the government, Mariano said. Mariano said the law violates the right to association and assembly, allows security forces to conduct surveillance operation and examination of banks accounts and records of suspected terrorist. The law is a deadly weapon for those who oppose the worsening attacks of the government against economic welfare and political rights of the Filipinos, Mariano said. Virtually, the implementation of the law is a martial rule. The law violates pertinent provision of the Bill of Rights and its implementation threatens the right of the people, Mariano said. The enormous potential for civil, political and human rights abuses far outweighs any possible protection this law supposedly provides. The bitter irony is that such a sweeping attack on democratic rights has been perpetrated in the name of war to defend the Philippine freedom and democracy against terrorism. Mariano said. Mariano said the RA 9372 was patterned after the US Patriot Act of 2011, the Australian Anti-Terror Law of 2005, the 2006 terrorism Act in Britain, and similar measures crafted before in Denmark, France, Spain and other nations, which often follow the US line on matters of international diplomacy and security. (30) eag