Statement of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy Against the Anti-Terrorism Bill
07 June 2020
The Anti-Terrorism bill that swiftly passed Congress at a time when the country is going through an unprecedented health crisis is an infinitely greater danger to the country as it threatens to curtail our basic human rights to liberty and the due process of law. While real risks to our physical health have forced us to lockdown and stay under quarantine for months, Congress has enacted a bill that will curtail an even more basic right of the people once it becomes a law.
This ominous bill endangers our fundamental freedoms of speech and assembly, where legitimate actions of protest and avenues of expression can be interpreted as acts of terrorism and inciting to sedition. It disdains the basic right to privacy as citizens will not have the opportunity to dispute authorization for surveillance and wiretaps. Even the country’s justice system will be maimed as the proposed Anti-Terror Council can bypass the courts through warrantless arrests and detention. We fear the worsening acts of impunity and misconduct of officers of the law if the safeguards against abuse are removed, as this bill does.
The country is at the beginning of an economic recession due to the pandemic and priority ought to be given to our national recovery. Instead we are confronted with a far greater danger to our national life through a bill that was hastily decided on and urgently passed. What a travesty that this draconian bill with such ominous effects on our liberties, with so much public opposition and with nary a public debate, is speedily delivered to the doorsteps of Malacanang.
As academics and educators, we strongly decry this move by Congress to force upon the nation a bill that will harm the democratic processes and the civil liberties we have continuously fought to uphold. We oppose the Anti-Terror bill that threatens to rob us of our basic human freedoms and violates our democratic rights guaranteed by the Constitution. We call on our government to instead address the rise and attraction of violent extremism based on its sociological underpinnings, the need to promote inclusion and nonviolence in society and politics, particularly within the education system.
We stand with the people in our unshakeable determination to defend our democratic freedoms won through the courageous, selfless and valiant struggle of the generations before us. #
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