Pangilinan prepares to question new anti-terrorism law before SC

Senator Francis Pangilinan on Sunday said he is preparing to file a separate petition before the Supreme Court questioning the recently-enacted new anti-terrorism law, particularly its provision on warrentless arrest that threatens to trample on the bill of rights.

Pangilinan made the remark after a group led by Ateneo and De La Salle law professor and lecturer Howard Calleja filed an earlier petition before the Supreme Court challenging the constitutionality of RA 11479, or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last Friday.

"Tuluy-tuloy ang ating pagtutol dito at pinaghahandaan natin ang pagsampa ng isang petisyon sa Korte Suprema para kwestiyunin ang ilang mga probisyon na naniniwala tayo ay kontra sa ating Saligang Batas partikular sa Bill of Rights, sa mga usapin ng warrantless arrest," the senator said in a Dobol B sa News TV interview.

"[Kasama na diyan ang] usapin na yung hindi maliwanag kung hindi ispisipikong pag-define ng terrorism na maaaring maging sanhi ng kung anu-anong mga kasong maisampa kahit na hindi maliwanag o hindi klaro itong definition ng terrorism," he added.

Pangilinan is one of the only two senators who voted against the measure when it was being deliberated in the Senate.

He assailed, for one, Section 29 of the law, which he said authorizes the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) to issue a written authority to allow the detention of suspected terrorist for 14 days, extendable foranother 10 days.

"Yan dapat ay sa hudikatura. Sa Saligang Batas, sinasabi na no warrant of arrest shall be issue except upon probable cause determined personally by a judge," he said.

"Papayag ba ang Korte Suprema bilang co-equal na judicial branch na agawin sa kanila ang ilang kapangyarihan at authority na exclusive sa kanila?" he added.

However, Senator Panfilo Lacson, one of the authors of the measure, said that Section 29 was "merely a restatement" of the same provision in the Human Security Act of 2007, which the new anti-terrorism law virtually repealed.

He added that the ATC would not have the authority to order arrests of suspected terrorists.

"It is only to request the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the accounts and the Court of Appeals to issue an order to wiretap, not arrest," Lacson said.

Nevertheless, Pangilinan insisted that an "iron fist" is not the solution to the many problems of the country, be it on drugs, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, or terrorism.

"Hindi kamay na bakal ang solusyon sa problema ng COVID, sa terorismo, sa droga. Kinakailangan komprehensibo, hindi puro pananakot, hindi puro pagmumura, hindi puro pagkulong, hindi ganun ang solusyon sa malubhang problema ng ating bansa," he said.

He cited the "deradicalization" program implemented when Deputy Speaker Mujiv Hataman was still the regional governor of the then-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, as among these comprehensive measures against terrorism.

"Ang deradicalization program, tulad sa Malaysia, binibigyan ng trabaho, binibigyan ng values formation ang mga rebelde," Pangilinan said.

"Over 200 na mga Abu Sayyaf ang nagbalik-loob precisely because hindi kamay na bakal ang ginamit kung hindi komprehensibong programa na kasama ang pagtugon sa problema ng kahirapan," he added.

National Security Adviser Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. on Saturday said law-abiding citizens should not worry about the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

"Sa pag-question nila sa Anti-Terrorism Law sa Supreme Court ay karapatan nila, hindi natin pipigilan 'yan, we'll even encourage them," Esperon said.

"Ngunit kung nabasa lang sana nila, dahil meron akong palagay na hindi nila binabasa itong provisions ng Anti Terrorism Law," he added. —LBG, GMA News