JAMBY BRINGS ANTI-TERROR BILL TO EUROPE

I am now here in Europe to bring to international attention the repressive provisions of the proposed Anti-Terror Bill pending before the Senate. I am doing this in the interest of letting the international community know that the administration of Mrs. Arroyo is bent on adopting policies and measures that will only further strengthen her control over Filipinos and encouraged widespread human rights abuses.

The bill is very dangerous because human life is at stake. I have already brought this issued before the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva , the principal international Christian ecumenical organization that has 340 churches and denominations in 120 countries. I shall also bring this issue before a parliamentarians caucus in the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva , the International Federation of Journalists in Belgium , members of the Belgian and Flemish Parliaments, the House of Lords in London , and Amnesty International (AI).

International pressure of adopting a human rights framework will hopefully force the Arroyo administration in withdrawing support for a repressive bill.