This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 3, Feb. 18-24, 2007
STREETWISE The
Anti-Terrorism Bill that House Speaker Jose de Venecia is itching to pass under
his leadership and Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is aching to sign with her pen
poised in the air (as she herself announced) is a wolf in sheep's
clothing. Simply put, the proposed bill lays the legal basis for an undeclared
martial rule or the return to a fascist dictatorship disguised as merely being
part and parcel of the U.S.-led "war on terror". The claimed "safety nets"
against abuse that erstwhile opponents have introduced are ineffectual and a
sham. BY
CAROL PAGADUAN-ARAULLO © 2007 Bulatlat
■
Alipato Publications Permission is granted to reprint or redistribute this article, provided its author/s and Bulatlat are properly credited and notified.
Wolf in Sheep's Clothing*
BusinessWorld
Posted by Bulatlat
How ironic that while the rest of the world, including the people of the United
States of America, are waking up to the Bush administration's Big Fat Lies about
the "war on terror," Filipinos continue to be fed with the same sort of lies by
the Arroyo regime. In fact the latter is in the process of completing the
railroading of a so-called Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) that is the result of
high-profile lobbying as well as arm-twisting by high officials of the Bush
government. A two-day special session of the Lower House of Congress has been
called by Mrs. Arroyo to ratify the bill so that she can quickly sign it into
law.
The Bush administration, bent on establishing unchallenged U.S. economic,
political and military domination over the world, seized the horrific events of
9/11 to generate mass paranoia about "terrorism" (or what it labeled as
"terrorism") and blind support for what it trumpets is a "war on terror" but
which is in fact an imperialist war of terror.
In the process it has funneled hundreds of billions to favored contractors in
the military-industrial complex, let loose the dogs of war in the unjust
invasion, occupation and destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq, enacted repressive
laws such as the U.S. PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing
Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Act and the
Military Commissions Act of 2006 and caused the unprecedented flouting of
international human rights and humanitarian law standards by allowing the use of
torture and inhumane treatment on prisoners accused of "terrorism" and denying
them basic legal rights to defend themselves in a court of law.
Imposing a black-or[-white, "either you are with us or against us" kind of
politico-military alignment, the U.S. has hoodwinked, inveigled and pretty much
threatened the rest of the world to join or support its wars of aggression and
intervention in the guise of fighting a borderless, indeterminate war against
"terrorism."
It is in this true context that we are witnessing the enactment in our country
of the "Human Security Act of 2007" or "An Act to Secure the State and Protect
the People from Terrorism" that is meant to mislead and camouflage the inhuman
character and object of the bill.
While earlier versions of the bill were undisguised pieces of fascist
legislation that were clearly an affront on the people's civil, political and
human rights, and thus could not stand muster in a Senate that has a
predominantly oppositionist make-up (not to mention a smattering of senators
posturing as human rights defenders) this final bi-cameral bill is said to have
been "defanged" to the point of being harmless.
We vehemently disagree. The Anti-Terrorism Bill that House Speaker Jose de
Venecia is itching to pass under his leadership and Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
is aching to sign with her pen poised in the air (as she herself announced) is a
wolf in sheep's clothing. Simply put, the proposed bill lays the legal basis for
an undeclared martial rule or the return to a fascist dictatorship disguised as
merely being part and parcel of the U.S.-led "war on terror". The claimed
"safety nets" against abuse that erstwhile opponents have introduced are
ineffectual and a sham.
The U.S.-backed Arroyo regime and its military and police minions can still use
the ATB to outlaw and suppress all legal dissent and opposition by unilaterally
declaring these as "terrorist" on the basis of manufactured intelligence reports
and the claims of false witnesses. They also have the law to back them up when
they interchangeably label "rebels" as "terrorists." In one fell stroke they
will have demonized the former and
reduced a revolutionary armed movement with the undisputed history of fighting
the Marcos fascist dictatorship and struggling for a comprehensive political
program of fundamental reforms into nothing but a bunch of heartless, despicable
criminals.
The bill pays lip service to "uphold(ing) the basic and fundamental rights of
the people..." then proceeds to enumerate the ways in which those rights are to
be undermined and attacked.
Concretely, "terrorism" suspects will be denied due process and the presumption
of innocence. A person can be deprived of his liberty, the right to travel and
the right to communicate (even by means of a telephone) on the mere suspicion of
terrorism and even where "evidence of guilt is not strong". For example, Sec. 26
states:
"In cases where evidence of guilt is not strong, and the person charged is
…granted... bail, the court shall …limit the right of travel of the accused to
within the municipality or city where he resides. He or she may also be placed
under house arrest by order of the court… While under house arrest, he or she
may not use telephones, cell phones, emails, computers, the internet or other
means of communications with people outside his residence until otherwise
ordered by the court."
Under Sec. 19, in the event of alleged "actual or imminent terrorist attack,"
suspects may be detained for 48 hours without warrant. Municipal, city,
provincial or regional human rights commission officials are authorized to order
the detention of suspected terrorists beyond 48 hours. This is a clear violation
of Art. VII, Sec. 18 of the Constitution
which provides that "During the suspension of the privilege of the writ, any
person thus arrested or detained shall be judicially charged within three days,
otherwise he shall be released."
With the evidence for an "imminent" terrorist attack easily concocted by the
military or police, who have the nasty habit of giving false warnings about New
People's Army (NPA) and/or Muslim rebels infiltrating rallies and demonstrations
to sow terror, any person suspected of rebellion or insurrection, which are, by
the way, considered terrorist acts under Sec. 3 of the bill, may now be detained
indefinitely upon orders of a municipal officer. Thus will the ATB be used
additionally to the current jurisprudence on warrantless arrests of suspected
rebels that has been abused for the longest time as in the celebrated case of
Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Rep. Crispin Beltran.
Human rights lawyers and civil libertarians have all pointed to many more
reprehensible provisions of the anti-terror law including the dangerously vague
and broad definition of "terrorism" virtually wiping out legitimate protest and
demolishing the peace processes with the communist and Muslim separatist
revolutionary movements; the illegalization of organizations declared as
"terrorist" by an Anti-Terrorism Council headed by Mrs. Arroyo and packed by the
most hard-line militarists and fascists in her Cabinet; an intensified and
indiscriminate wiretapping that will do away with constitutional guarantees to
privacy and will render government critics and oppositors vulnerable to unfair
prosecution and political persecution.
Why all the rush to pass the bill before the elections? Apart from being a
feather in the cap for the Arroyo-de Venecia clique, both eager to please their
U.S. backers as they face a problematic mid-term election, we believe this
fascist legislation is being readied for the expected backlash against the
anticipated systematic and wholesale cheating by the Arroyo administration in
the coming May polls. Business World / Posted by Bulatlat
*Published in Business World
16-17 February 2007