PNP: No abuse of Anti-Terror Law
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has assured the public that the new AntiTerror law will not be abused as President Duterte signed the controversial law amid opposition from various sectors over some of the provisions that allegedly violate human rights.
The PNP, according to its spokesman Police Brig. Gen. Bernard Banac, welcomes the signing, saying it will be of big help in protecting the Filipino people from local and terror attacks like the spate of bombings in the past, as well as the Marawi City siege.
“The PNP assures that it will not be abused and we shall faithfully uphold all institutional mechanisms that provide safeguards to its implementation,” said Banac.
The new Anti-Terror law, Republic Act 11479, has been the subject of contentions even in the legal community, saying there are provisions in the law that go against the Constitution especially on the Bill of Rights.
One of the contentious provisions is the time frame when authorities could detain a terror suspect which specifies that it could be for as long as 14 days and could be extended for 10 more days. Critics said Article 7, Section 18 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution only allows a maximum of three days for detention of any suspect that has not been charged.
Another provision is what legal experts describe as vague stipulation in the Anti-Terror law on what constitute inciting to terrorism via news articles, opinions and even posts in the social media.
While government officials have been assuring that the Anti-Terror law is safe since it is similar to the Anti-Terror law of European countries, critics said what they afraid of is the history of abuses of the police and the military.
In the past, several persons were arrested, detained, or charged for mistaken identity.
The Senate’s anti-terror bill is a shield that would protect the Philippines from the repeat of the horrible terror attacks like the 9/11 and the Marawi City siege, the chief of the PNP said.
In a previous statement, PNP chief Police Gen. Archie Gamboa said that the AntiTerror law is a potent tool to protect the Filipinos from the continuous threats of the Abu Sayyaf Group and other terror groups in the country.
“In situations when the very existence of the democratic institutions are threatened, the government can always invoke the right of the state to protect itself,” said Gamboa.
“This Anti-Terrorism is a just and valid exercise of that right of the state to protect itself and its people. We can only say better late than sorry even if we are the latest country in Asia-Pacific to pass a law that criminalizes terrorism. But definitely there ought to be a law,” he added.