MANILA: A controversial new anti-terror law in the Philippines took effect on Saturday, despite legal challenges at the Supreme Court to stop its implementation.
The new law criminalizes acts that incite terrorism “by means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners or other representations.”
It also grants the president power to create an anti-terrorism council that could tag individuals and groups as terrorists; allows authorities to detain suspected terrorists without charge for up to 24 days; and permits the government to conduct 90 days of surveillance and wiretaps.
So far, nine petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court seeking to declare the Anti-Terror Act (ATA) unconstitutional. The National Union of People’s Lawyers called on the government to halt its implementation.
“We beseech the authorities to prudently hold their horses and give the multiple petitions a fighting chance out of deference to the ultimate resolution by the court,” the body’s president Edre Olalia said.
Officials have stressed that safeguards are in place against its possible abuse amid concerns and protests from various groups.
“As the one who painstakingly sponsored the measure in the Senate, I will not allow anyone to pervert the legislative intent of the law, thus my commitment to go the extra mile in guarding against possible abuse in its implementation,” according to a statement from former police chief-turned-lawmaker Panfilo Lacson, principal sponsor of the ATA in the Senate.
He said that, now that the law was in effect, the Filipino people were assured of a law that allowed the government to “mount a strong response” against the threat of terrorism.
Lacson added that it was the public’s responsibility to see that the law was implemented correctly, “to go after terrorists and not anyone else.”
“That said, we cannot afford to have disinformation campaigns aimed to make the public reject the Anti-Terrorism Law. Terrorism knows no timing or borders. I hope the day will not come that critics of the law — especially those behind the disinformation drives - will not be at the receiving end of terrorist attacks.”
We beseech the authorities to prudently hold their horses and give the multiple petitions a fighting chance out of deference to the ultimate resolution by the court.
Edre Olalia, President of National Union of People’s Lawyers
On Friday, Lacson told US lawmakers who opposed the new law “to shut up unless they admit being a bunch of hypocrites.”
He made the statement after at least 45 members of the US Congress asked for the Philippines to repeal the law, which President Rodrigo Duterte signed on July 3.
Manila's ambassador to Washington, Jose Manuel Romualdez, assured the US lawmakers that the protection of civil and political liberties, as well as human rights, would be observed under the new law.
“The ATA itself strongly mandates that human rights shall be absolute and protected at all times,” he said, explaining that the act aimed to plug the loopholes in the Human Security Act of 2007, which the new law replaces, “by putting in place a more effective legal framework that would enable a criminal justice response to terrorist acts beyond that allowed for by the Revised Penal Code.”
The ATA, he added, “expressly excludes legitimate exercises on the freedom of expression” and that it “also provides significant safeguards to prevent abuses.”
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