MANILA – President Rodrigo R. Duterte had signed the controversial anti-terror bill into law on Friday, which is now officially known as Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 despite stiff and massive opposition from various sectors.
The said law effectively amends and repeals the Human Security Act of 2007 that will punish those who will “propose, incite, conspire, participate in the planning, training, preparation, and facilitation of a terrorist act; including those who will provide material support to terrorists, and recruit members in a terrorist organization.”
But groups that tried to block the passage of the said law are honing their tools for a long legal battle in court. “Basura ang pilit na isinusubo sa taumbayan. Dapat ibasura ang walang kwentang batas na ito at handa tayong kwestyunin ang constitutionality ng batas na ito sa Korte Suprema,” (What’s being fed to the people is trash. This useless law should be junked and we are ready to question its constitutionality before the Supreme Court),” opposition Senator Francis Pangilinan said in a statement.
Sen. Pangilinan denounced the passage of the law and said the “fight is not over yet.” The senator used to get the ire of then Davao City Mayor Duterte for sponsoring the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, a law that according to Duterte is favoring criminals instead of law enforcers,
His statement further said “I am not surprised. From Day 1, this administration unleashed draconian and authoritarian measures as a showcase of its brand of leadership. These draconian measures, however, have been exposed as nothing more than a show of senseless, mindless violence as means to sow fear amongst the people.”
On the other hand, the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) said in a statement that their group would exhaust all possible steps to oppose it.
According to lawyer Edre Olalia, NUPL president that “It is not over yet. We will not cease to exhaust any and all legitimate steps and platforms to challenge this draconian law.” Their statement continued, “This without doubt, is the most unpopular and perilous piece of legislation that could ever be pushed by a government that is fixated with the potion of power,”
In the morning of Saturday, July 4, separate multi-sectoral mass actions were staged in Mendiola and inside the University of the Philippine campus in Diliman, Quezon City denouncing the newly signed anti-terrorism act.
Meanwhile, a group of lawyers and a dean of private school also on Saturday filed a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction to the Supreme Court for the said law based on their petition for certiorari and prohibition of the implementation of the controversial law. The group cited a number of provisions in the anti-terror law that they perceive as contrary to the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
