Law eyed vs nihilistic extremists

MANILA, Philippines — Citing growing concerns over online radicalization allegedly linked to incidents of school violence, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian is pushing for legislation that will specifically address nihilistic violent extremism (NVE) among minors.

In a statement released in observance of National Schools Safety Month, Gatchalian said there is an urgent need to enact a law that will curb the online “grooming and radicalization of minors into committing violent acts.”

“There is a sense of urgency in crafting a specific law to address NVE, the online grooming of children, and the brainwashing that leads them to commit acts of violence. We want to work with the Department of Justice, through the Senate Committee on Women, to come up with that specific law because the problem can worsen,” he said.

According to Gatchalian, perpetrators of NVE use social media platforms and gaming applications to gain the trust of young people, before allegedly grooming and manipulating them into carrying out violent acts.

He cited a foiled school attack in Laguna earlier this year involving seven minors allegedly linked to the online game Roblox.

The Senate President noted that one of the suspects in a school shooting in Tacloban was reportedly heavily influenced by the sandbox game GoreBox.

During a recent hearing of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality, Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said the country’s existing laws do not adequately address the online recruitment of children into violent extremism.

Gatchalian said the proposed measure would strengthen the government’s response to emerging online threats and help protect children from exploitation and radicalization.

DOJ mindful of vagueness of NVE

While the Department of Justice (DOJ) acknowledged that the concept of NVE remains contentious, it vowed to advocate for the creation of a law seeking to prevent it, especially if it involves a terrorist agenda.

Ty said the term has been adopted by other countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and those in Western Europe.

“In those countries they treat NVE as terrorism, while other countries see it as terrorism adjacent,” he said in an interview over dzBB yesterday.

Ty explained NVE may contain elements of terrorism, such as grooming children and espousing them to do violence, and that other countries already adopted “counterterrorism mechanisms” to address it.

However, the concept of NVE remains a debatable issue and has not been tackled in any law, he pointed out.

“In other countries, there are no laws on NVE. The countries I mentioned earlier use existing laws and counterterrorism mechanisms in case of an intersection with NVE,” Ty said.

“It’s not that easy passing a law on NVE because even other countries are having deep debates on it. First, what is NVE? What is the scope of NVE? What name do we give it?” he added.

For instance, Canada and the United Kingdom already designated online group 764 – the one blamed for recruiting the suspects in the Tacloban school shooting based on findings in a recent Senate hearing – as terrorists, according to Ty.

Also, the very definition of terrorism, which has been indicated in the country’s anti-terror act, remains a divisive issue, hence the need for the government to be more careful, particularly in tagging children as terrorists, he said.

Ty said the floating of the concept of NVE enabled discussions, especially within the government, as to how to prevent future incidents, including a possible creation of a related law.

The DOJ would discuss with the inter-agency Anti-Terrorism Council about efforts on its level to curb NVE.

The measures the agency may lobby for include policies against grooming similar to Republic Act 11930 or the law preventing online child abuse and exploitation, and obligations by internet platforms to prevent NVE from infiltrating cyberspace.

In addition, Ty emphasized the need to bring up NVE especially among schools and households, for both school management and parents to become more aware of the concept. — Ghio Ong