Using the Calibrated Preemptive Response and Executive Order 464, the government crackdown on groups and individuals challenging the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo presidency is in full gear. A people’s lawyer said martial rule will be in full circle once another fascist weapon, the Anti-Terrorism Bill, is signed into law.
BY DABET CASTAÑEDA
Forcing another controversial vote, the House Committee on Justice approved the final draft of the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) on Oct. 4, in an executive session attended by 31 of its 56 members. This is the same committee that killed the impeachment case against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Sept. 6.
Since the voting happened in an executive session, media coverage was not allowed. But a reliable source from the House interviewed by Bulatlat said the committee was deliberating Section 4 (Terrorism; How Committed) of the bill when Rep. Marcelino Libanan (lone district, Eastern Samar) moved that the committee instead vote for or against the Sept. 28 draft.
During the last public hearing on the ATB on Sept. 20, the committee deliberated on Sections 3 (on definition) and 4 for about three hours but could not agree on the issue. At that point, one of the bill’s authors, Rep. Imee Marcos (second district, Ilocos Norte), moved that the Technical Working Group (TWG) meet to discuss the matter.
A check with the committee secretariat showed that the TWG met twice, on Sept. 22 and 28. It came up with the final draft that was voted on by the committee on Oct. 4.
The bill is expected to reach the Senate for deliberations this coming week if the majority once again prevails and the ATB is immediately approved during the next House plenary session. Once the Senate approves its own version, a bicameral committee will convene to enact it into law.
On Oct. 5, the president certified the bill as urgent following reports of another suicide bombing incident in Indonesia, and persistent military intelligence reports that suicide bombers are now headed for Manila.
By rushing the proceedings, the country may find itself with an Anti-Terror Law in the next two weeks.
Why the rush?
Coupled with the Calibrated Preemptive Response (CPR) policy that practically bans street protests and freedom of expression and the controversial Executive Order 464 that prohibits public officials (including police and military personnel) to attend congressional investigations, the passage of an ATB makes martial rule in effect, public lawyers said.
“With this scenario,” said Neri Colmenares, convenor of the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties (CODAL), “the president need not declare martial law but would have the same effect as such.”
Dean Pacifico Agabin of the Lyceum College of Law on the other hand said a formal martial law declaration would push people to go to the streets to defy it. “The president could be wise enough not to declare martial law so the people may still have the impression that we are under a democratic system even if we are not,” he said in an interview with Bulatlat this weekend.
“In other words, the people are deceived into conformity. If martial law remains undeclared, it could preempt people power,” he added. “She could rule in a military way without declaring it.”
Moreover, former Senate president and martial law prisoner Jovito Salonga said the president would not be capable of declaring Martial Law for two reasons: one, because the military is divided, and two, it is toothless under Section 7, Article 18 of the 1987 constitution that states, in part: “In case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, (the President) may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law. Within forty-eight hours from the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the President shall submit a report in person or in writing to the Congress. The Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of at least a majority of all its Members in regular or special session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President.”
Interviewed by Bulatlat, Salonga said the 1987 Constitution was drafted against the proclamation of martial law.
Worse
Agabin also said the ATB pending in Congress is even worse than the U.S. Patriot Act (PA) where it was supposed to be patterned.
He said while the Patriot Act is a law that authorizes electronic surveillance or outlaws money laundering for terrorists, “the proposed ATB will outlaw some forms of people power like we know it.”
He said the ATB prevents rallies and demonstrations in public areas and streets – it penalizes any act that would endanger public utility, facility or transport system. The final draft also would consider transport and factory strikes which may become “violent” as “terror acts.”
For Colmenares, the most dangerous provision in the bill are Sections 8 (Proscription of Organization) and 9 (Membership in a Terrorist Organization). “These provisions are a recipe for frame-up and its purpose is to attack legal organizations,” he told Bulatlat.
He said these provisions violate the basic criminal principle of “you do the crime, you do the time” which means the criminal responsibility is not with the class but with the individual.
Colmenares explains: For example a certain Pedro who is a member of an organization goes out in public and says he committed a terrorist act (that may not even be true), other members of the organization may go to jail for six years even if was Pedro who committed a crime. Thus, a person may go to jail for the acts of another person.
“And since there’s immunity for witnesses, the person who squeals remains safe. This bill has a very loose way of implicating people and has a very nice way of immunizing the implicator,” Colmenares said.
Attack on opposition
Rep. Roilo Golez (second district, Parañaque), one of the bill’s principal authors, withdrew his authorship last week and has denounced the bill because it may be meant to be used against opposition lawmakers.
“This bill must be stopped. It’s a draconian measure against the legal opposition,” he said.
The lawmaker, who also resigned from the president’s political party at the onset of the congressional investigation on the “Garci tapes,” said this bill would prevent Congress and Senate from investigating anomalies and scandals of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.
He added it is meant to augment EO 464 that is now under petition in the Supreme Court.
The bill could also be used to curtail press freedom, Golez said. In Section 7 (Acts that Facilitate, Contribute to or Promote Terrorism), any media outfit that covers a congressional investigation can be part of the destabilization process against the government and will therefore be liable for a “terrorist act”.
Constitutional crisis
The current hostility between the Executive and the Legislative branches of government due to the CPR, EO 464 and the ATB could lead to a constitutional crisis, Salonga also said.
A constitutional crisis, which Salonga said is a crucial moment or a very tense situation due to a breakdown in the relations of the two political departments of government, could arise once one of the two bodies insist on going over the other.
Agabin however said this has been defused due the petition filed by the House Independent Block (that includes Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela Women’s Party) and other civil libertarians to the Supreme Court (SC).
“The SC would have the final say on this and both branches of government are bound to follow its ruling,” he said.
A higher stage of constitutional crisis would however arise if one party does not abide by the SC ruling, he said. (Bulatlat.com)
