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Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Anti-terror bill becomes law
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law the anti-terrorism bill on Tuesday, assuring critics it would be used "against bombers, not protestors."
Arroyo signed Republic Act 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007 during a special ceremony at Rizal Hall in Malacañang. Present during the signing are the stakeholders that include lawmakers, Cabinet members, foreign businessmen, and ambassadors.
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The House approved the bill in a special session on February 20.
Arroyo, in a speech before the country's Provincial Board members, said the new law is a "landmark in the battle against evil waged by terrorists."
She said it brings to a higher level the country's campaign against the Abu Sayyaf, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and al-Qaeda cells, "upgrades our preemptive capability to check the conspiracies of harm and mass murder, and contains the movement of arms and funds to sow mayhem."
"We will keep bombers at bay as we drive up confidence in the Philippines, grow jobs, increase incomes and lift the people from poverty. Our message to the world is to have no safe haven for terror in our country, and to have a strong democratic society driven by freedom under the rule of law," she said.
She added that law-abiding Filipinos have nothing to fear from the new law "for it is a weapon that shall be wielded against bombers and not protestors."
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the Human Security Act would take effect after the May 14 elections.
Ermita said the law could be used on the New People's Army (NPA) because it has been tagged as a terrorist organization by the government and other countries.
He said the legal fronts of the communist movement need not fear "as long as they are not caught violating the Revised Penal Code (RPC), or undertaking any overt act."
The 35-page Human Security Act defines terrorism as committing acts that are punishable under the penal code, such as piracy and mutiny in high seas or in Philippine waters, rebellion and insurrection, coup d'etat, and acts committed by private persons like murder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention, and crimes involving destruction.
The crime of terrorism shall be punishable with 40 years imprisonment, without the benefit of parole. Persons who conspire to commit terrorism will get the same 40-year prison term while accomplices will get a jail term of 17 years and one day to 20 years.
Any organization or group organized for or engaging in terrorism shall, upon application of the Department of Justice (DOJ) before a competent Regional Trial Court (RTC), be declared a terrorist group and outlawed by the court.
Persons suspected of being terrorists could be detained without a warrant for three days, or more in the event of an actual or imminent terrorist attack. No threat, intimidation, or coercion or any form of physical pain shall be employed on the detainee.
Those who are entitled to bail cannot travel outside the town or city where he lives or where the case is pending.
Judicial authorization is required to examine a suspect's bank records but accounts and other assets may be used to prevent its use against the interest of the State. The accused could, however, still withdraw amounts needed by his family or for legal cases. The accused may also use his seized property with permission from the court for legitimate reasons.
Surveillance and wire-tapping of communications of suspected terrorists might be undertaken, upon a written order of the Court of Appeals (CA), for 30 days and may be renewed for another 30 days. Surveillance and wiretapping of lawyers and their clients, doctors and patients, journalists and their sources shall not be authorized.
Any public officer who allows a detainee to escape shall be punished with imprisonment of 12 years and a day to 20 years if the detained person has been convicted and six years and a day to 12 years if the detainee has not yet been convicted.
Any person acquitted of terrorism shall be paid damages of P500,000 for every day that he has been detained. The money shall be charged against the budget of the police agency or anti-terrorism council that brought the charges against the accused. The money shall be released 15 days after the acquittal.
An anti-terrorism council will be composed of the executive secretary as its chairman, justice secretary as vice chairman, and the secretaries of defense, foreign affairs, interior and finance and the national security adviser as members.
A grievance committee composed of the Ombudsman as chairman and the solicitor general and an undersecretary from the justice department as members shall receive complaints against the police and law enforcement officials.
Party-list Representative Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna, however, said they would file a petition next week questioning the constitutionality of the Human Security Act of 2007.
Ocampo also urged other human rights groups and advocates to fight the new law, which he and other militant congressmen have described as "a draconian measure aimed at silencing the political opponents of the administration."
They warned that the charges of fraud in the May elections "may trigger an avalanche of arrests using the anti-terror law."
The military said the number of terrorist attacks in the country would lessen with the enactment of the anti-terror law.
"It would in a way empower, give more teeth to our law enforces in preventing as well as investigating anything related to terror," said AFP public information officer Bartolome Bacarro. (JMR/DBP/VR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Bacolod. (March 7, 2007 issue)
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