Speaker: Give terror bill benefit of the doubt

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is open to amending or even repealing the controversial anti-terrorism law, but only when there will be abuses in its implementation, according to Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano.

He challenged critics to give the measure the benefit of the doubt and first allow its implementation.

“Let’s work together on this... that there will be zero abuses of this law, so that, maybe not now, maybe not next week, maybe not in one year, we may prove the critics wrong,” Cayetano said in his speech before the Joint Task Force-NCR of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“We appreciate your criticism, but in this case, we hope that you are wrong. And if you are not wrong at any point in time, we can amend or repeal,” the Speaker pointed out. He posed the same challenge to the AFP.

“It is a reminder to the Executive Department, the secretaries, who will form the Task Force Committee, it is a reminder to the chief-of-staff, it is a reminder to the Senate and Congress and it is a reminder to the chief PNP that the law will be judged not by all its successes, but by one abuse,” the Taguig-Pateros representative stressed.

Cayetano also allayed concerns that it might be too late to amend or repeal the measure when abuses critics have warned about have already been committed by the police or the military.

“Some of you can say it might be too late. But that’s also what we’ve been saying: when the bomb explodes then people die, the airport is ruined and no tourist would want to come here, it’s also too late,” he argued.

Cayetano reiterated that the measure would not be used by the Duterte administration to crack down on its critics.

Lawyers, civic groups and opposition legislators have warned the anti-terror bill passed by Congress is prone to abuses, as it broadens the definition of terrorism while lessening the restrictions on law enforcement agents who would effect these arrests.

But Cayetano refuted such claims, saying that the law would only be used against terrorists and their cohorts and would just empower the AFP to fight insurgency and terrorism.

“We have an Anti-Terror Bill that is at par with Singapore, US and UK, ‘yung pinipintasan po na sa the criticisms against provisions of the Anti-Terror Bill, the period of detention is shorter and there are more safeguards,” he pointed out.

The bill, which is now up for signature of President Duterte, defines terrorism by specifying acts aimed at inciting fear and seriously destabilizing structures in the country: causing death or serious bodily injuries to any persons or endangers a person’s life; causing extensive damage or destruction to a government or public facility, public place or private property; causing extensive interference with, damage or destruction to critical infrastructure; developing, manufacturing, possessing, acquiring, transporting, supplying, or using weapons, explosives, or biological, nuclear, radiological or chemical weapons; or releasing dangerous substances or cause fire, floods and explosions.

Under the measure, those who will propose, incite, conspire and participate in the planning, training and facilitation of a terrorist attack could face a sentence equivalent to life imprisonment.

The same penalty would be meted out to individuals found providing support to terrorists or recruiting anyone to be a member of a terrorist organization.

On the other hand, a shorter period of imprisonment of 12 years would be imposed on anyone found guilty of “threatening” to commit terrorism, inciting others to commit terroristic acts, voluntarily and knowingly joining any terrorism group or association as well as being an accessory to the commission of terrorism.

Under the bill, a suspect can be detained without a warrant of arrest for 14 days, extendable by another 10 days, and can also be placed under a 60-day surveillance, which may be extended by another 30 days by the police or the military.

It also designates certain regional trial courts as anti-terror courts to ensure the speedy disposition of cases.

For check and balance and protection of rights of suspected persons, the proposed measure requires law enforcement agencies to notify the Commission on Human Rights whenever a person is detained.

But the bill repeals the provision in the Human Security Act of 2007 that awards a sum of P500,000 per day of wrongful detention.