Anti- Terrorism Bill

-Office of the Army Judge Advocate

(CPT DANIEL L LAYNES)
 Scope of Presentation
2 • Governing bill and its nature

• Acts of Terrorism

• Is activism a terrorism

◈ Famous hashtags (Criticism and the answers thereto)

◈ Conclusion
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Governing bill and
its nature
 Governing bill and its nature
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◈ "House Bill 6875"

◈ - Submitted by the Committee on Public Order and

Safety (CPOS) and the Committee on National Defense
and Security (CNDS) on May 20, 2020.

◈ -Substitutes house bills 551, 2082, 2847, 3103, 3413

and 5710, the last which proposes to amend RA 9372
(Human Security Act).
 Governing bill and its nature
5 ◈ -introduced by 68 representatives, including, but not
limited to: Vilma Santos-Recto and Camille a Villar,
both have different political parties..

◈ -Proposed title:
◈ AN ACT TO PREVENT, PROHIBIT AND
PENALIZE TERRORISM,, THEREBY
REPEALING REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9372,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE "HUMAN
SECURITY ACT OF 2007"
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Acts of Terrorism
 Acts of Terrorism
7 ◈ Sec 4. Terrorism - Subject to Section 49 of this Act,
terrorism is committed by any person who within or
outside the Philippines, regardless of the stage of
execution:

◈ a) Engages in acts intended o cause death or serious

bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person's
life;
 Acts of Terrorism
8 ◈ c) Engages in acts intended to cause extensive
interference with, damage, or destruction to critical
infrastructure;

◈ d) develops, manufactures, possesses, acquires,

transports, supplies or uses, weapons, explosives or of
biological, nuclear, radiological or chemical weapons;
and
 Acts of Terrorism
9 ◈ e) Release of dangerous substances, or causing fire,
floods or explosions when the purpose of such act, by
its nature and context, is to intimidate the general
public or a segment thereof, create an atmosphere or
spread a message of fear, to provoke or influence by
intimidation the government or any international
organization, or
 Acts of Terrorism
10 ◈ seriously destabilize or destroy the fundamental political,
economic, or social structures of the country, or create a
public emergency or seriously undermine public safety,
shall be guilty of committing terrorism and shall suffer the
penalty of life imprisonment without the benefit of parole
and the benefits of Republic Act No. 10592, otherwise
known as "An Act Amending Articles 29, 94, 97, 98 and
99 of Act No. 3815, as amended, otherwise known as the
Revised Penal Code.
11
Is “activism” a “terrorism”?
(Is mere activism punishable under this
bill?)
 Is “activism” a “terrorism”?
(Is mere activism punishable under this bill?)
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◈ 1. No.

◈ The general definition of activism, under Merriam

dictionary says “a doctrine or practice that emphasizes
direct vigorous action especially in support of or
opposition to one side of a controversial issue” is
different from “terrorism” as defined by this bill.

◈ The word “terrorism” defined under Sec. 4 of

 Is “activism” a “terrorism”?
(Is mere activism punishable under this bill?)
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. . . this bill punishes NOT THOSE ACTS merely
supporting of or opposing to one side of a controversial
issue but only those acts which are :

- detrimental to one's life, health, private or government

property or to those whose objective is to spread a
message of fear (sec 4.)
-threat to commit terrorism (sec 5),
 ◈ -planning, training and facilitating to commit terrorism
as explained under sec 4 (sec 6),
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◈ -conspiracy to commit terrorism (sec 7),
◈ -proposal to commit terrorism (sec 8),
◈ -inciting to commit terrorism (sec 9),
◈ -recruitment to and membership in a terrorist
organization (sec 10) ,
◈ -either a national or a foreign terrorist (sec 11) as well
as
◈ -those who provides material which supports to
terrorists (sec 12).
 Is “activism” a “terrorism”?
(Is mere activism punishable under this bill?)
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2.

Last para, section 4 of the bill provides:

“terrorism as defined in this Section shall not include

advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work, industrial or
mass action, and other similar exercises of civil and political
rights, which are not intended to cause death or serious
physical harm to a person, to endanger a person's life, or to
create a serious risk to public safety”.
 Is “activism” a “terrorism”?
(Is mere activism punishable under this bill?)
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Therefore, mere advocacy, protest
or mass action without the
elements of terrorism provided
under Section 4 and the
succeeding sections are NOT
punishable by this bill.
17

Famous hashtags (Criticism

and the answers thereto)
 Criticism and the answers thereto
18 ◈ 1. #ActivismNotTerrorism

◈ This is the most unmeritorious criticism, opposing the bill

without reading its content.

◈ An exercise of a civil and political rights thru mass action which

are not intended to cause death or serious injuries political rights
are allowed under section 4 of this bill.

◈ Hence, #MagbasaBasaKa
 Criticism and the answers thereto
19 ◈ 2. #SourceOfGovernmentAbuse

◈ Laws are interconnected and so this bill recognizes RA 6770

(ombudsman), RA 8551 ( Internal Affairs Service of PNP) and
of course , the law that creates court martial in the AFP.

◈ In case an abuse is allegedly made, complain the concerned

officer, and the above are there to deal with it. And don't forget,
an abusive one is punishable by ten (10) years imprisonment.
See Sec 31. #MagsumbongKa.
 Criticism and the answers thereto
◈ 3. #GoodbyePhilippines
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◈ Go ahead, you can go to countries below with their

corresponding anti terror laws
◈ Australian anti-terrorism legislation, 2004
◈ Anti-terrorism Act, 2009 passed in Bangladesh
◈ Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, 2001
◈ New Zealand Terrorism Suppression Act 2002
◈ Russia Yarovaya law
◈ USA FederalBiological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989

◈ Here’s the link, since it’s too many.

◈ After reading, you can say #GoodbyeEarthKaNalang
◈ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-terrorism_legislation#International_conventions_related_to_terrorism_and_counter-terr
orism_cases
 Criticism and the answers thereto
◈ 4. #SaGitnaTalagaNgPandemic
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◈ Another misconception and a manifestation of unawareness

of the corresponding law that deals with COVID19.

◈ This Bill is anti-terror law. Should there be a problem with

the execution of a law corresponding with the pandemic, a
proper law to analyze is RA 11469.
◈ #MatutoKangLumugar.
 Criticism and the answers thereto
◈ 5. #WalangRasonAngPagpasa
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◈ From August 21, 1971 Plaza Miranda Bombing to Sept 8, 2019 Abu Sayaff
suicide bombing is a heed of almost five decaeds of terrorist incidents in the
Philippines.

◈ The international siege by ISIS affiliated Maute Group.

◈ Further, the limited period of 3 days detention under Human Security Act
shortens the period to gather evidence unlike the 14 days provided by this bill.

◈ These are some, not all, of the reasons to pass this bill to become a law.
#MadamiPa.
 Conclusion
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◈ Anti-Terror Bill supports advocacies without the need to
cause death or injuries, proposed by representatives with
different political parties.

◈ A source of no-government abuse, in line with other

countries or international call to prevent terrorism and a step
to address the long term feud in the Philippine Republic.
 .

Thank you!
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