Massive Corruption and Bad Governance under the Duterte Administration - 2nd in Series

BAD GOVERNANCE UNDER THE DUTERTE ADMINISTRATION

TERRIFYING ANTITERROR BILL

Philippine Daily Inquirer

05:00 AM March 03, 2020

…unwarranted surveillance and intimidation of ordinary citizens…Senate Bill No. 1083, the proposed “Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020’’ that the Senate, voting 19-2, approved last week?

The bill pushes for the vast expansion of the state’s coercive power to frightening lengths. It authorizes, for example, the surveillance or wiretapping of individuals or organizations for 60 days, with a “non-extendible period of 30 days.’’ Telcos and internet service providers will be compelled to turn over a suspected person’s call, text and internet metadata to authorities.

The bill does exempt from wiretapping journalists and their sources, as well as lawyers and clients, doctors and patients, and confidential business correspondence. But that is small comfort knowing how authorities can very well weaponize existing laws to target anyone it perceives as a government enemy.

Under the bill, “terrorism” is said to be committed by any person within or outside the Philippines who, regardless of the stage of execution, engages in acts intended to cause death or serious injury or danger to the life of any person, extensive damage or destruction to a government or public or private facility, extensive interference with, damage or destruction to critical infrastructure; or who develops, manufactures, possesses, acquires, transports, supplies or uses weapons of mass destruction to intimidate the public, create an atmosphere of fear and intimidate or destabilize the government. These acts are punishable with life in jail.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who voted against the bill with Sen. Risa Hontiveros, said the “too vague and encompassing’’ definition of terrorism would allow erring law enforcers to use even common crimes to “frame’’ individuals. Compounding that danger, law enforcers are now absolved from punishment for wrongfully detaining citizens, as the bill repeals the hefty deterrent penalty of P500,000 per day of wrongful detention under the present law.

The period of detention without warrant of arrest has itself been extended from the current three days to 14 days, with a bonus 10-day extension. Given the country’s corruption-prone and inefficient justice system, think of the miracles of injustice that can happen to an innocent person detained without charges and under the mercy of authorities for 24 days.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson, principal author of the bill, gave assurances that the measure provides adequate safeguards against abuse. Instead of just a trial court, authority from the Court of Appeals will be required for surveillance and proscription. Also, authorities must immediately notify a nearby judge and the Commission on Human Rights about any arrests. There are also jail penalties for erring law enforcers.

Unfortunately, this bill, a similar version of which is pending in the House, cannot be taken in a vacuum. Far from showing that it is a government of laws, the Duterte administration has, in fact, engaged in what observers see as “lawfare” to go after critical and independent voices — from opposition figures jailed or charged with sedition, to activists, NGOs and church groups red-tagged and media entities harassed on top of the police’s well-documented record of planting evidence and summarily executing suspects.

Read more: https://opinion.inquirer.net/127772/terrifying-antiterror-bill#ixzz6HHOG89pK

Senate Bill No. 1083 directly degrades civil and political rights and augments the powers of the government to weaponize and abuse the law in its program to silence legitimate political opposition. The bill erodes the already dangerously diminished freedoms of speech, of association, and of the press presently, and the government accountability and transparency that they critically foster. This law directly detracts from good governance.

Eroding civil and political rights also works to degrade the following aspects of good governance, regulatory quality and the rule of law—because intrinsically linked to the advancement of civil and political rights is the promotion of economic rights that naturally develop the market economy and stimulate wealth creation by the private sector. When civil and political rights are degraded, the opposite deleterious economic effects take place: inefficient, predatory government, corruption, plunder, and cronyism—all familiar to us, it is the anti-developmental legacy of repressive, criminal, and exploitative regimes in the Philippines.