{"id":256841,"date":"2020-06-02T08:08:47","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T12:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=256841"},"modified":"2020-06-02T08:08:47","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T12:08:47","slug":"no-draconian-provisions-in-anti-terrorism-bill-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/06\/02\/no-draconian-provisions-in-anti-terrorism-bill-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018No draconian provisions\u2019 in anti-terrorism bill: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. at the Presidential Guest House in Panacan, Davao City on January 4, 2018, JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang assured that there are no \u201cdraconian provisions\u201d in the bill which is meant to beef up the country\u2019s law against terrorism.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made this statement after President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday certified the measure as urgent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala naman pong<\/em>\u00a0draconian\u00a0na<\/em>\u00a0provision\u00a0diyan. Lahat po ng<\/em>\u00a0provision\u00a0diyan ay ibinase rin natin sa mga batas na mga iba\u2019t ibang bansa na mas epektibo po ang kanilang pagtrato dito sa mga terorista<\/em>\u00a0(There is no draconian provision there. All of those provisions are based on laws of other countries that are effective in fighting terrorists),\u201d he said in a virtual presser on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Compared to anti-terrorism laws in other countries, Roque said the country\u2019s Human Security Act of 2007, also known as Republic Act (R.A) 9372, is the most tame.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayroon po tayong<\/em>\u00a0three volume books\u00a0na pinablish ng<\/em>\u00a0Cambridge\u00a0na kinukumpara ang mga<\/em>\u00a0anti-terrorism law\u00a0sa buong mundo at isa po talaga sa pinakamaluwag na batas ang batas natin dito sa Pilipinas iyong<\/em>\u00a0Human Security Act (We have three volume books published by Cambridge comparing the anti-terrorism laws of countries around the world and one of the most lenient laws is the Philippines\u2019 Human Security Act),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque said the anti-terrorism bill, which repeals the Human Security Act, is based on laws in countries such as in the US, Europe, and Australia.<\/p>\n

He also pointed out that the Philippines is no stranger to terrorism, citing the 2017 Marawi City siege and the Abu Sayyaf\u2019s attacks in Sulu.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roque recognized questions raised on the timing of the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to certify the legislation as urgent, but noted that anti-terrorism bills were \u201cnot passed into law\u201d during the previous Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlam ko po panahon ng<\/em>\u00a0Covid,\u00a0pero itong mga<\/em>\u00a0bills\u00a0naman pong ito ay naisampa na noong<\/em>\u00a017th Congress\u00a0pa, hindi lang naisa-batas noong<\/em>\u00a017th Congress (I know it is the time of Covid-19 but these bills were filed during the 17th Congress but weren\u2019t passed into law at the time),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Opposition senators and some sectors have raised concern over the possible abuses by law enforcement authorities once the anti-terrorism bill is approved.<\/p>\n

However, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana dismissed these criticisms as \u201cbaseless\u201d since human rights are ensured under the measure\u2019s provisions.<\/p>\n

Lorenzana also scored communist rebels and their allies for painting a negative impression on the anti-terrorism bill, noting that the measure has \u201csafeguards of civil liberties and sanctions to law enforcement agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also assured that the measure will not be used against the political opposition and progressive groups.<\/p>\n

In February, the Senate passed Senate Bill 1038 or proposed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 on third and final reading. Two committees at the House of Representatives approved their version of the measure, which is similar to the Senate version on Friday (May 29).<\/p>\n

Under the bill, persons who shall threaten to commit terrorism and those who will propose any terroristic acts or incite others to commit terrorism shall suffer imprisonment of 12 years.<\/p>\n

Suspected persons can be detained for 14 days without a warrant of arrest with an allowable 10-day extension.<\/p>\n

A 60-day surveillance on suspected terrorists can also be conducted by the police or the military, with an allowable 30-day extension.<\/p>\n

Videoconferencing for the accused and witnesses will also be allowed under the measure.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang assured that there are no \u201cdraconian provisions\u201d in the bill which is meant to beef up the country\u2019s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":252612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256841"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256841\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256842,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256841\/revisions\/256842"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}