Thursday, February 08, 2007
Senate passes watered-down anti-terror bill
MANILA -- Senators approved a watered-down anti-terrorism bill on Wednesday that authorities have long sought to fight al Qaida-linked militants, but activists said it still could be used to muzzle legitimate dissent.
The legislation must be merged with a version passed last year by the House of Representatives before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo can sign it into law.
The Anti-Terrorism bill was renamed the Human Security Act to make it sound more positive, said opposition Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. It was approved by a vote of 15-2.
The United States and other Western countries have long prodded the Philippines to enact an anti-terrorism law, citing the presence of al Qaida-linked militants who have been blamed for deadly bomb attacks, beheadings and kidnappings.
"The safeguards that we have put in place, we hope, will ease the fears of human rights advocates and the general public as well," said Senate President Manuel Villar, a principal author of the measure.
Among the major amendments to the anti-terrorism bill are: decrease from 15 to three the number of days a terrorist suspect can be detained without court warrant or formal charges and increase in amount of compensation or damages--from P50,000 to P500,000--for each day of detention of persons wrongly arrested or detained as terrorist suspects by law enforcement authorities
The bill, in the Senate's version, will also only take effect two months after the May 14, 2007 national and local elections. The maximum punishment under the bill is 40 years in prison.
"Our amendments have effectively defanged the original version," Pimentel said.
Aside from amendments in the manner of detention and amount of compensation, Pimental said journalists, lawyers and doctors could not be compelled to disclose details about militants under the bill, he added.
Despite the safeguards, critics opposed the bill, with one lawyers' group, Counsels for the Defense of Liberties, calling it "nothing more than a weapon that will be used against legitimate dissenters and further intensify human rights violations in the country."
The bill calls for the establishment of an Anti-Terrorism Council that would oversee the government's counter-terrorism campaign and the banning of terrorist groups, Pimentel said.
The Senate version of the bill was filled in October 2005 by Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and was certified as urgent by Malacañang on the same month. It has been in the backburner for over a year because of the clamor from legislators and groups to insert provisions that would safeguard against abuse by authorities.
Its passage by the Senate on Wednesday was welcomed by the military, which hoped for its immediate approval in Congress to give more teeth to the fight against terrorism. (AP/With CPB of Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (February 8, 2007 issue)
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