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RP’s Anti-Terrorism Bill ‘Most Terrifying Piece of Legislation’

Published: January 23, 2007   |     |     |   Subscribe: RSS or Email    

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Due Process, Thrashed

In these sections, the Bill thrashes, at the very least, the constitutional provisions that deal with due process.

Specifically, these are Sections I and Section 14 of Article III of the Constitution that has to be read in relation to Section 12 of the same article.

Sec. 1 mandates that: No person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law;

Sec. 14 states that: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved, xxx (have the right) to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation against him, xxx to meet the witnesses face to face; and

Sec. 12 (1) provides that: Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel preferably of his own choice. Xxx These rights cannot be waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel.

Threatening incidents

But under the provisions of the Bill, the police or law enforcement officials may subject a person simply SUSPECTED of terrorist activities to the following:

1. Surveillance of his or her movements without or with a judicial warrant obtained in secret (ex-parte). Even now, in the absence of an Anti-Terrorism Law, suspects not only of terrorism but of other crimes as well are being placed under surveillance without judicial warrants.

2. Recording of his or her communications, messages, conversations – verbal or written – with a judicial warrant secured ex-parte;

3. Search of his or her house, papers and effects with a judicial warrant secured ex-parte;

4. Seizure, sequestration and freezing of his or her properties “of whatever kind” ex-parte; and

5. Arrest and detention without a judicial warrant.

The net effect of these activities whether done together or separately is to deprive even a SUSPECT in terrorist cases of his or her liberty and property without due process of law. And that makes the Bill patently defective, clearly impermissible, and fatally flawed for violating the Constitution.

Rid Bill of impurities

As such, the Bill is an abomination to a democratic society.

Happily, the Anti-Terrorism bill cannot supersede what the Constitution mandates for the protection of the rights of people.

We submit that those rights must be upheld, protected and enhanced rather than curtailed, diminished and demeaned as the Bill proposes to do.

We need the help of the people and of our colleagues in the Senate to rid the Bill of its impurities so that we may secure the country against the scourge of terrorism but without sacrificing our people’s basic liberties and fundamental freedoms. (Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr/davaotoday.com)

[tags]davao today, nene pimentel, aquilino pimentel jr., mindanao, terrorism, anti-terrorism bill, Senate Bill No. 2137, asean, human rights, civil liberties, privacy, crime[/tags]