Tensions are running high in the Philippines after its House of Representatives passed the anti-terrorism bill, which many fear could threaten human rights and be used against political opponents of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a joint statement, Philippine Jesuit Provincial Fr Primitivo Viray Jr SJ and Lasallian East Asia District Provincial Br Armin Luistro FSC with the Presidents of Jesuit and De La Salle schools in the country expressed their opposition to the bill saying that its passage is “ill-timed” as people continue to reel from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the bill can be used to “oppress our people”.
“At this time, our priorities should be shoring up our health system, providing support to our health workers, ensuring food for our communities, stimulating the economy and providing jobs for our people,” they said.
“To be sure, it is our lawmakers’ sworn duty as public servants that these very real and terrifying threats to our health and economy receive more of their dedication and attention than hastily passing a bill that could, with its haphazard construction, wrongly impair sacred constitutional rights,” they added.
The Jesuits and Lasallian brothers cited as “worrisome” the “expanded and vague definitions of a ‘terrorist’; the powers given to the Anti-Terror Council to designate a group as a ‘terrorist group’; the weakening of the protection of one’s privacy and the safeguards against arrests and detention without warrants”.
They called on President Duterte “to listen to the pleas of our people who are already burdened by the pandemic, and to veto this particular version of the bill” in favour of crafting “a better version that can uproot terrorism while addressing the people’s concerns about their basic rights”.
Once signed into law, the bill will replace the country’s 2007 anti-terror law called the Human Security Act, which heavily fines law enforcers for each day they wrongfully detain a person suspected of being a terrorist. The new legislation removes such safeguard and increases the number of days, from three to 24, that a suspect can be detained without a warrant.
The two religious congregations also called upon Filipinos “to remain vigilant, to keep abreast of what’s happening, and to safeguard our rights that are enshrined in the Constitution”.