HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

As CPA hits Cordi congressmen for backing ATB
NUJP Questions ATB Constitutionality

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) plans to challenge the constitutionality of the Human Security Act 2007 or more popularly known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) once President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) signs it into law, as the Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA) assailed Cordillera congressmen for endorsing the passage of the bill.

BY KIM QUITASOL
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

BAGUIO CITY – The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) plans to challenge the constitutionality of the Human Security Act 2007 or more popularly known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB) once President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) signs it into law, as the Cordillera People's Alliance (CPA) assailed Cordillera congressmen for endorsing the passage of the bill.

NUJP-Metro Baguio secretary-general Arthur Allad-iw said his group is questioning the constitutionality of the ATB. Should the bill be signed into law, his group may challenge it before the Supreme Court, he said.

Allad-iw said the ATB would criminalize media work. The ATB violates press freedom and the people's right to know as it would limit journalists' sources of news especially for community newspapers focusing on investigative reporting, he said.

“If we pursue objective reporting and exhaust all possible sources like the military or the NPA (New People’s Army) we may be charged with terrorism,” he said.

CPA chairperson Beverly Longid assailed Cordillera congressmen for endorsing the ATB. She encouraged voters to include as part of their criteria in choosing candidates in the forthcoming May elections the politicians’ stand on human rights violations. “We could not afford to have in government people who do not respect human rights,” she said.

Longid further said the government would use the ATB to facilitate economic plunder like liberalization of the mining industry especially on indigenous peoples' ancestral domain. She added that the Cordillera indigenous peoples' experience proved that opposition to certain projects is met with state violence.  She said the ATB would be used as a tool to suppress people's opposition. “The said bill would legalize state terrorism,” she added.    

Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) secretary-general Atty. Randy Kinaud said the ATB violates provisions of the Bill of Rights such as the right to life and liberty, including right to privacy, the freedoms of expression and of association. He said the bill violates these freedoms enshrined in the 1987 Constitution that supposedly ensures protection to the people.

Kinaud said suspected terrorists would be placed under surveillance, put under house arrest or detained for more than three days without charges, which all violate present laws.

Bayan Muna (People First) regional coordinator Manuel Loste said there would be an upsurge of political violence against progressive partylists with the passage of the ATB. “We have no defense in terms of physical security but we hope the Melo commission and the Alston report would deter the government's plan,” he said.

Loste added Bayan Muna would continue to pursue what it describes as “politics of change” amid the escalating extra-judicial killings. “We have to persist and we will persist because this is our commitment to the people. We will rise to the challenge of the times,” he stressed. Northern Dispatch / Posted by Bulatlat

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