“There is no other reason for (President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s) wanting to revive the (Anti-Subversion Law) except to consolidate more authoritarian powers in her hands,” said Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.
BY NOEL SALES BARCELONA
Contributed to Bulatlat
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Vol. VII, No. 45, December 16-22, 2007
It is a prelude to another martial rule.
This is what Minority Leader of the Senate, Sen. Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel, Jr. sees in the move of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her ally in the House of Representatives Sorsogon (2nd District) Cong. Jose Solis (KAMPI) to revive the Anti-Subversion Law (ASL).
Arroyo recently announced that she supports Solis’ proposal to reactivate the ASL. In line with this, the Chief Executive reaffirmed her vow to stop the “communist insurgency” by 2010, the expected end of her term.
“There is no other reason for her wanting to revive the ASL except to consolidate more authoritarian powers in her hands,” Pimentel said in a statement.
Solis recently announced the “revival” of the law, which was repealed in 1992 during the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos, a former military official who took part in the People Power I uprising of 1986.
Pimentel doubts that the move is intended for winning the war against “insurgency.” Instead, he believes it is intended to silent Arroyo’s critics who want her removed from office.
“The ASL was repealed because, among other things, an oppressive government could get its critics convicted under it through the very undemocratic principle of guilt by association,” Pimentel explained. “Her wish to revive it then is one more proof that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has lost her democratic moorings as she walks into the sunset of her term as president.”
According to the senator, once revived, the ASL could mean “a thousand torments” for every man or woman who disagrees with her, demonstrates against her, or supports her political opponents.
Against local, international humanitarian laws
Meanwhile, International Assocation of People’s Lawyers (IAPL) president Edre Olalia lambasted Malacañang’s support for the revival of the “inhumane” law.
In a message sent to media, Olalia said that the revival of ASL is a “Jurassic legal step backwards, violates basic rights to due process and association and will embolden more arbitrary arrests. It simply is Cold-War McCarthyism.”
“It would only aggravate the draconian Human Security Act that would lead to further witch-hunting and demonization of critics of dissent. It will also add lethal legitimization of arbitrary arrests and detention,” Olalia explained.
Aside from this, the IAPL president stressed that the revival of such an “oppressive” law is a gross violation of the Bill of Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
In the Bill of Rights, which forms part of Art. III of the Constitution, it is stated that: “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.”
Warrantless arrests and searches, arbitrary detention, torture, intimidation, threats and violence as instrument of obtaining information to suspected criminals, detaining a person incommunicado and in a secret place are strictly prohibited by the Bill of Rights.
A 180-degree turn against democracy
“It is evident that this government is truly barbaric and not democratic at all,” labor leader Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog of the militant Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May 1st Movement) said regarding the planned “resurrection” of the ASL.
“Outrightly, the Macapagal-Arroyo government is turning its back on democracy and wants to run the country in a dictatorial way,” said Labog.
The labor leader lambasted Solis and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gen. Hermogenes Esperon for pushing hard for the revival of the law.
“They (Solis and Esperon) must know that in a country where true democracy exists, various political and ideological beliefs are respected and critics are being heard,” Labog added.
ASL’s revival, not a priority
On the other hand, Sen. Mar Roxas urged the government to drop the idea of reviving the ASL.
“This law was not even tackled in last Tuesday’s (Dec. 11) Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC.) It is clearly not our priority,” the senator said.
“Reviving the Anti-Subversion Law is to turn the hands of time to an era where might is right, and freedom is defined not by one’s ability to think and act freely, but by espousing only the ideas and actions that were most acceptable to the powers-that-be,” Roxas stressed.
Roxas said that instead of focusing on the revival of the ASL, the government should rather focus on health, education, and a better quality of life for all Filipinos.
A Peep into the ASL
Republic Act No. 1700 or An Act to Outlaw the Communist Party of the Philippines and Similar Associations, Penalizing Membership Therein, and for other purposes was signed into law on June 20, 1957.
The purpose of the law is to destroy and neutralize the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), then founded by Jose Lava and Luis Taruc in 1935. Upon the effectivity of the law, the old CPP (Lava-Taruc) and its armed-wing Hukbong Mapaglaya ng Bayan (HMB or People’s Liberation Army. formerly Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon/Hukbalahap/People’s Anti-Japanese Army) were outlawed and most of its leaders were incarcerated.
Twenty-four years later, then President Ferdinand Marcos broadened the scope of and increased the penalties imposed by RA 1700 through his Presidential Decree No. 1835 issued Jan. 16, 1981.
During the Martial Law years, the CPP, led by its founding chairman Prof. Jose Maria Sison, was going strong and the New People’s Army (NPA) had already spread in almost 80 provinces in the Philippines.
On Sept. 22, 1992, by virtue of RA 7636, the Anti-Subversion Law was repealed. Contributed to Bulatlat
