Saturday, March 10, 2007 Editorial: Vigilance against abuses
AT LONG last, the anti-terror law has been approved by President Arroyo.
However, the law, officially called Republic Act No. 9372 or the Human Security Act (HSA) of 2007, will be in effect two months after the May 14 elections as proposed by opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
In fact, it is so provided that the law is suspended one month before and two months after every election, obviously to prevent those in power to use the law against their political opponents.
One news account said the amendments proposed by opposition senators were more than the original provisions contained in the bill sponsored by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
The governments of the United States of America and of Australia held the law's approval, saying that HSA will provide the Philippine government --law enforcement units and the judicial authorities -- the legal tools to confront terrorism in the country.
A euphoric President Arroyo said the HSA would be used "against bombers and not protesters" as if to allay fears expressed by militants that the administration, through the military, will use it to suppress legitimate dissent and the political opposition.
Members of the militant Left are unimpressed. They were quick to denounce the new law as the latest addition to the "building blocks of material" already in the country used to violate the right to privacy, movement, security and political affiliation.
Joel Maglungsod, a Dabawenyo who is now secretary general of the Kilusang Mayo Uno, said government would use the law to stop and suppress all forms of legitimate crusades against anti-people policies.
Sen. Jamby Madrigal, whose staunch opposition to the bill failed to stop its eventual passage, called it a "license to kill."
Still, given the Filipinos' capacity for abuse, whatever their stations in life may be, fears that excesses will be committed in the enforcement of the law are not exactly unfounded.
But abuses can only be perpetuated if the people will allow it to proliferate. Not when the people exercise vigilance and protest abuses.
