On July 3, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 despite the fierce opposition repeatedly registered by Filipinos across the country and the lingering coronavirus crisis.
We, civil society and people’s organizations working on diverse issues of the environment, strongly condemn the enactment of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which immensely threatens environmental work and workers. The legislation, which spurns human rights safeguards while granting unchecked powers to the government, can be used to silence all forms of legitimate dissent. It could only make matters worse for a country already ruled by a climate of impunity, and would further threaten the well-being of its most vulnerable peoples, such as environmental defenders who have been among those who bore the brunt of state abuses in recent years.
The Philippines is known today as the country deadliest in the world to environmental defenders, as independent watchdog Global Witness reported in 2019. Since President Duterte assumed office, there had been at least 113 killings of indigenous peoples, farmers, lawyers, and other environmental workers, many of whom were falsely tagged as communists and terrorists before being unjustly brought to their deaths.
It is in these circumstances that President Duterte labeled as urgent the Anti-Terrorism Bill and eventually signed it into law. Now, Republic Act 11479 allows warrantless arrests on mere suspicion of committing terrorist acts, expands the period of warrantless detention to as long as 24 days, lowers penalties for abuses committed by law enforcers, and completely removes any liability from state actors for wrongful accusations – all based on a vague and malleable definition of terrorism.
Our indignation stems from the knowledge that the Anti-Terrorism Law effectively places a blade onto the waiting hands of abusive corporations and state forces ready to wield its preposterous provisions to silence all who are in the way of their destructive projects and selfish interests. Signed just days after the fourth death anniversary of anti-coal community leader Gloria Capitan of Bataan, the first victim of the spate of killings of environmentalists under the Duterte administration, the Act is an insult to all who have spent their lives for the protection of the environment and of human rights.
Moreover, placed against the backdrop of a global health crisis and a looming recession, the passing of the Law is a wake up call to halt the overarching focus of the Duterte administration on public order and national security, at the expense of human rights and the rule of law, in its tracks. It is also a manifestation of the infuriating detachment of our leaders from the realities of the public they claim to serve. With over 40,000 infected individuals, the Philippines currently accounts for over a quarter of all COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia. The signing of the Law coincided with the largest single-day increase of confirmed cases nationally at 1,531. Medical facilities continue to struggle with limited resources and manpower. Unemployment has risen to never before seen numbers in recent times. Hunger and poverty pose threats to the lives of our people just as much as COVID-19 does. Yet, rather than listen to the cries of the Filipino public, the government has chosen the path of oppression.
History will remember how our leaders, from the members of the Congress who formed the treacherous bill, to our nation’s chief executive who breathed life into it, refused to protect the rights of the people and turned their backs from our pressing needs, choosing instead to create means to illegitimize our voices. History, however, will also remember our collective uproar.
We will continue to lend our voices to amplify the calls of environmental defenders who fight for their communities despite being met with violence from state and private actors. We will continue to demand accountability and a just recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. And, as the battle against the Anti-Terrorism Act does not simply end with the President’s signature, we stand in solidarity with all groups urging the Supreme Court to junk this perilous law, and we encourage all members, partners, and supporters to join the mobilizations and protests, both online and in the streets, without compromising health and safety guidelines, as our clear stand against the draconian law. We shall stay safe, but not silent.
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