Progressive Phlippine groups lambasted the New RP anti-terror law

MANILA, Philippines -- Progressive party list lawmakers called lambasted the newly signed RP anti-terror law also known as the "Human Security Law" Tuesday and called it a “day of infamy.

News sources reported that progressive lawmakers from the partylist ANAKPAWIS, GABRIELA and BAYAN MUNA, called the signing of the law as" virtual martial law"

Gabriela Women's party-list Representative Liza Maza called the signing of the measure was a virtual declaration of martial law and an “endorsement of torture” on top of the “anti-democratic policies” she said Arroyo had issued over a year's time to “bring about creeping martial law.”

Among these were the declaration of a state of emergency in February last year, the calibrated pre-emptive response or CPR policy that cracked down on street protests, and Executive Order 464 banning government and military officials from attending congressional probes without presidential permission.

“All these are calculated to bring about creeping martial law,” she said. “But with this anti-terror law in place, martial law, indeed, has made a comeback.”

She called the new law an endorsement of torture claiming it contained the “phenomena of proscription and extraordinary rendition.”

“Proscription is the rendering of organizations as unlawful, while extraordinary rendition is an extrajudicial procedure which involves the sending of untried criminal suspects, suspected terrorists or alleged supporters of groups which the government considers to be terrorist organizations, to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation,” she explained.

Meanwhile, former Marcos political detainee, Satur Ocampo said: "Today is a day of infamy, the death knell to our civil liberties and human rights we fought hard to regain from the fascist [Marcos] dictatorship,” Bayan Muna (People First) Representative Satur Ocampo said in a statement.

“These [rights] will be snatched away under the cover of counterterrorism. Now, the state arguably becomes a terrorist," he said.

"Let it be made clear that we are against terrorism, including state terrorism, which will most probably be intensified with the enactment of this bill into law," Ocampo said.

Ocampo and Maza, who consistently voted against the measure, rejected Arroyo's claim the measure would not be used to suppress her critics.

The Bayan Muna solon said the formal title of the law -- Human Security Act of 2007 -- was an ”insult” to the intelligence of the Filipino people.

Maza also feared that charges of fraud in the May polls could trigger an avalanche of arrests under the new anti-terror law.

She said the timing of the legislation’s enactment was crucial because Arroyo could wield the law to “terrorize those who will cry fraud [over] the May polls.”

Arroyo and miliary-all praises for the Anti-terrorist law.

Meanwhile. in Malacañang, where he and other ranking military and government officials witnessed the signing of the law, Armed Forces chief of staff General Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the new measure would give the government more teeth in going after terror groups and their supporters, citing the New People’s Army.

Asked if these supporters include leftist organizations, which the government has long tagged front organizations of communist rebels, Esperon said: "It could."

But he added these could also include rightist elements.

Defense Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane said that with the law in place, the Philippines is now is a better position to coordinate and cooperate with the fight against terror at the regional level.

Philippine counterterrorism Ambassador Benjamin Defensor said the law is a welcome "additional weapon for our intelligence operatives and law enforcers."

The RP Anti-Terrorist Law

The law does not define terrorism but lists acts that may be punishable under the provisions of the Revised Penal Code namely, Article 122 (piracy in general and mutiny in the high seas or in Philippine waters), Article 134 (rebellion or insurrection), Article 134-a (coup d'etat, including acts committed by private persons), Article 248 (murder), Article 267 (kidnapping and serious illegal detention), and Article 324 (crimes involving destruction).

Acts committed by any person under the following laws can also be punishable under the anti-terror law: The Law on Arson, Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Waste Control Act of 1990, Atomic Energy Regulatory and Liability Act of 1968, Anti-Hijacking Law, Anti-Piracy and Anti-Highway Robbery Law of 1974, and Presidential Decree No. 1866 or the decree codifying the laws on illegal and unlawful possession, manufacture, dealing in, acquisition or disposition of firearms, ammunitions or explosives.

Under the law, persons who conspire to commit the crime of terrorism can get up to 40 years’ imprisonment.

Conspiracy is defined as when two or more persons "come to an agreement concerning the commission of the crime of terrorism and decide to commit the same."

Any person who cooperates in the execution of either terrorism or conspiracy to commit terrorism shall suffer the penalty of from 17 years, four months and one day to 20 years in jail.

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