Anti - Terror Bill Violates Human Rights

ANTI –TERROR BILL VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS
Activism does not and will never amount to terrorism. Anti-Terror bill violates our human rights.
I will not stand still and watch as our freedom and rights, granted by the democracy that this
nation runs on, are once again subject to possible and eventual repression.
On July 3 2020, the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, signed the anti-terror bill into
law despite strong public oppositions. Anti –Terror Bill of 2020 or House Bill 6875 grants
absolute power to the Philippine government in defining what constitute as terrorism. The
repealed law, the Human Act of 2007 has only one definition for terrorism. It's a common crime
that creates a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear. Under Section 4 of the new law,
terrorism has six definitions. They are common crimes that intimidate the general public or a
segment, thereof create an atmosphere or spread the message of fear provoke or influence the
government or any of its international organizations by intimidation, seriously miss stabilize or
destroy the fundamental political economic or social structures of the country, create a public
emergency or seriously undermine public safety. Under the law, persons who propose, incite,
conspire, and participate in the planning, training, and facilitation an offence under the act, as
well as those who provide support to ‘terrorists’ as defined under the act, or recruit members
of a ‘terrorist organization’, could face life imprisonment without parole. This bill is restricting
the basic rights guaranteed by the constitution.
Number one is that the definition of a terrorism under the act is vague and overbroad. This
goes again the principle of due process. Defining terrorism should be narrow enough so as to
safeguard our political and civil liberties, also at the same time, broad enough to serve its
purpose. Because if it is too narrow, then there is a chance that no one gets caught. But if it is
too broad all of us can get caught since everything we do can be called wrong. It will infringe
our rights to be secured. The 1987 constitution Article 3, Section 1 states that no person shall
be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be
denied the equal protection of laws.
Second one is that the act allows the government to bare its fangs to the individuals who show
the slightest expression of dissent and opposition: a warning to silence the people engaged in
critical perspectives and activism. It is clear that this bill threatens the privacy, safety and the
very democratic freedom of Filipinos which were already rendered fragile for years by the
aggressive atmosphere of the current administration. Under the article 3, section 4 states that
no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of expression, or the press, or the right of the
people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.
And the last one is that the bill allows police, law enforcement, and military personnel duty
authorized by the Anti- Terrorism Council to carry out warrantless arrests and be detained for
24 days. This will be based through suspicion alone and no evidence is needed. The safeguard in
the constitution will no longer matter. In the context of basketball, there’s no referee. Under
the Article 3, Section 18 states that no person shall be detained solely by reason of political
beliefs and aspirations.
The Anti – Terror Bill dangers the rights of an individual and opposes the freedom of speech as it
is vague, unconstitutional, and badly written law. The bigger picture is that people do not know
how to defend themselves against this. We fear what we do not know but we also fear the
subjective decisions that may be used against us. In all fairness, there are provisions in the law
that was improved but there are provisions that need to be questioned and reviewed as well. The
government and the police have been involved in numerous incidents of bad governance and
extrajudicial matters. The question now is. Is this really for the betterment of the country? Do we
trust our lawmakers to not abuse this power? Is it enough so we can be content and just keep
quiet? Let me end my speech of the saying, ’’An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.’’

Anti - Terror Bill Violates Human Rights

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Anti - Terror Bill Violates Human Rights

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Anti - Terror Bill Violates Human Rights

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

ANTI –TERROR BILL VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS

You might also like