Progressive organizations in Davao City have denounced President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s signing of the anti-terrorism bill into law. They said the law, which Arroyo signed on Tuesday, would worsen the already…
COTABATO CITY — What a bloody red carpet our government had given to Professor Philip Alston! Not only was the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings criticized by the head of the Senate Committee on Justice, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, for his comment on the dismal human-rights situation in the Philippines — a trail of blood followed Alston in his visit to the country.
In a privilege speech at the City Council today, Davao City Councilor Angging Librado expressed the fear that the recently passed Anti-Terrorism Bill might be used against local officials. “Deceptively titled the ‘Human Security Act of 2007,’ there is nothing more perilous than this draconian measure which is certain to curtail the rights of critics of the present administration, the rights of ordinary folks, and even the rights and privileges of local public officials like us,” the activist councilor told her colleagues.
Related item: Congress — A Hall of Injustice
The senators who voted for the anti-terrorism bill have nothing to say against the constitutional anomaly that while the measure gives the chief executive and the military vast authoritarian powers it is silent on Congress? lack of power as a ?check and balance mechanism? to executive abuse.
By Grace S. Uddin
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY — Three months ago, Naif Yaken applied for a job in one of the plywood companies here. The work was simple: all Yaken had to do was stick the plywood together.
But the 20-year-old Moro, who supports his parents and four siblings, did not get the job. A man who applied at the same time with Yaken got it instead. Yaken now speculates that, had it not been for his religion, which is Islam, he would have gotten the job.
Related item: Terror Law Undermines Efforts for Justice and Peace in Mindanao
