ON JULY 3, one hundred advocates from human rights groups and civil society organizations across Panay Island convened to mark the sixth year of the draconian Anti-Terrorism Act and urgently demand its repeal. Signed into law by now-detained former President Rodrigo Duterte and heralded by the National Task Force ELCAC, the Anti-Terrorism Act has been slammed by rights advocates as a mechanism to stifle and repress civic movements.
During the forum, National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) Panay Secretary-General Atty. Angelo Karlo Guillen dissected the core provisions of the law. He also pointed to specific legal cases brought against activists and development workers, arguing that the Anti-Terrorism Act and its repressive twin–the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act–have been actively weaponized to silence critics and block the delivery of services to impoverished communities.
The call to repeal those laws was further reinforced by representatives from Aklan and Capiz, alongside delegates representing the Tumandok indigenous group, youth, peasants, and church people. These grassroots representatives shared personal accounts of red-tagging and intense militarization of communities, illustrating the profound daily impacts of the Anti-Terror Act on local communities. Groups lament that the Supreme Court had to wait for the law to be consistently used against arbitrarily labelled individuals and organizations instead of striking the law as unconstitutional right from the start.
In the forum, multiple speakers cite that armed state forces set up camps in both urban and rural communities for so-called civil-military operations. Through these operations, military personnel are reported to have deceived residents into receiving government assistance or livelihood programs in exchange for their signatures as “rebel surrenderees”, or threatened them with charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act. The speakers decry these actions as affronts to the right of association and the right to quality social services.
Offering an institutional perspective, Atty. Jonnie Dabuco, Commission on Human Rights 6 regional director, graced the forum and listened to the manifestations of the speakers from various sectors. He outlined the ongoing initiatives and actions that the Commission is implementing to assist vilified human rights organizations and advocates.
The gathering concluded with a strong unity declaration aimed at lobbying for local ordinances to protect human rights defenders and criminalize red-tagging, and demanding local government action to stop the militarization of barangays and school campuses. The declaration also urges local officials to support the scrapping of the twin terror laws at the national level.
Participants issued a “failing grade” to the Marcos Jr. administration as per its track record on human rights, encompassing civil, political, economic, and social rights. Reflecting the non-stop assault on constitutional freedoms of the Filipino people even after the Duterte regime, this grade shall be forwarded to become part of the Panay People’s SONA to be held on the morning of July 27. – PANAY ALLIANCE KARAPATAN <panaykarapatan@gmail.com>
