PIMENTEL ALLAYS FEARS THAT ANTI-TERRORISM ACT
MAY BE USED TO HARASS OPPOSITION BETS DURING ELECTIONS

The anti-terrorism act, officially called Human Security Act of 2007, will not take effect until after the mid-term elections in May, even if it is finally ratified by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this month.

This was pointed out today by Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) as he allayed public apprehensions that the controversial legislation may be used by law enforcement agencies to harass and repress the rights of the political foes of the administration during the election period.

Pimentel cited a portion of the proposed anti-terrorism act which provides that it will take effect two months after the elections are held in May, 2007.

The provision further states that this legislation shall be automatically suspended one month before and two months after the holding of any election.

We inserted this safeguard precisely to prevent people in power from taking advantage of the Anti-Terrorism Act to harass or cause harm to their political opponents during the election period, Pimentel explained.

It was Pimentel who insisted on delaying the effectivity of the administration-initiated legislation until 60 days after the May elections. This was one of the 89 amendments he introduced to the measure intended to make it less repulsive and less susceptible to abuse of civil liberties by law enforcers. About 95 percent of these amendments were adopted in the final version.

The final version of the bill was approved by the bicameral conference committee last Thursday and ratified by the Senate on the same day. But the House of Representatives failed to ratify the same since the members present were short of the number to constitute a quorum.

The anti-terrorism bill provides that after it shall have been signed into law by the President, the Act shall be published in three newspapers of national circulation; as well as in newspapers of local circulation in several provinces.

The title of the bill and its provisions defining the punishable acts of terrorism shall be aired everyday at prime time, morning, noon and night over three national television and radio networks, as well as in local broadcast stations for seven days.

Pimentel expressed his appreciation to the House panel in the bicameral conference committee, chaired by Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong, for adopting the Senate version of the bill in its entirety after only about one and a half hours of deliberations.

He said the speed with which the members of the House contingent gave their concurrence to the Senate version showed that they were fully convinced of the necessity of the slew of safeguards against the risks of human rights violations that were crafted by the Senate.

The safeguards include the following:

1. Reducing the period of detention without court warrants of arrests to not more than three days as required by the Constitution.

2. Requiring the police/law enforcers to immediately bring before any judge, Commission on Human Rights official or justice of the Sandiganbayan any person arrested by them on charges or suspicion of terrorism before he or she is detained.

3. Compensating persons wrongfully arrested and detained on anti-terrorism charges P500,000 for every day of detention.

4. Exempting lawyers, doctors and media practitioners from being compelled to reveal to the law enforcement authorities their communications with their clients, patients and sources of information.

5. Creating a grievance committee, headed by the Ombudsman before which people harassed by law enforcers on charges of terrorism may complain and get redress for their grievances.