Cong. Tony Cuenco: The Fight against Terror (sponsorship speech on the Anti-Terrorism Bill, delivered on November 29, 2005) - Part 3

Cuenco, a seasoned legislator, authored the passage of numerous laws in the country among them: the Local Government Code (partnered in the Senate by his classmate and ally, Senator Pimentel), the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, and the Philippine Baseline Law. He also sponsored the passage of the country’s first anti-terror law then called as the Human Security Act of 2007. He championed its passage parrying opposition by his peers in Congress. CEBUpedia is reproducing his sponsorship, as even up to now it answers the questions of the critics of the new law, The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020:

(Continued from previous part)

Today, how else can we bring to bear the force of justice against them if we cannot use as evidence in our court state-of-the-art video and photographic materials?

We are on the threshold of great technological advances where the government may wiretap a whole neighborhood crawling with terrorists and practically “see” what is going on inside houses and rooms.

But this cannot be used as evidence under our present laws. And so this Anti-Terrorism Bill empowers us to present as evidence in court, and gives us the staging ground on which we can turn defense into attack.

To be effective against the terrorists, the law enforcers should be given latitude in petitioning wiretapping and other ways of coverage over suspects.

I am aware of the need to respect human rights, but this must be balanced with the end to protect the community from death and destruction.

I am aware, Mr. Speaker, that the champions of human rights, of whom there are in this Chamber, will surely reply that loosening the law on tapping or electronic surveillance may endanger the ordinary citizen.

But the real danger to the ordinary citizen today is terrorism. Terrorism is the vilest, cruelest, most devastating assault against human rights.

Terrorism is not only detestable. Terrorism is not only horrible. It is not only condemnable. It is not only damnable. It is not only despicable. It is not only abominable. It is diabolical.

We know that the targets of terrorism are the ordinary citizens who are harmless and powerless. These ordinary citizens are the ones for whom the hearts of human rights advocates bleed so copiously.

But the real bleeding comes when innocent people are blasted into bits, their bones broken, their flesh torn apart, and their souls sent to Kingdom Come even before they could cry uncle.

The fact is that this Bill is actually a human rights bill because it increases innocent people’s protection and defense.

Mindanao has already become an island of ill-repute among international anti-terrorist fighters. If we do not pass this Bill, we will all the more be acknowledged in international circles as a terrorists’ haven, a criminals’ lair, a murderers’ paradise. (To be continued)