So it goes. Nineteen senators in the Philippines Senate have approved on the third and final reading of Senate Bill (SB) 1083 this week, effectively giving more teeth to the Human Security Act of 2007, which was a watered down version of the 1996 Anti-Terror Act of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.

SB 1083 is the Philippines’ response of commitment to international efforts in the fight against terror.

Authored by Senator Panfilo Lacson, the bill intends to fortify the legal backbone in the fight against terror, equip law enforcers with necessary tools to carry out operations, and safeguard the rights of those accused of the crime.

READ MORE: Senate approves anti-terrorism bill on final reading

SB 1083 defines terrorism as a crime “committed by any person who within or outside the Philippines, regardless of the stage of execution; engages in acts intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person’s life; engages in acts intended to cause extensive damage or destruction to a government or public facility, public place or private property: engages in acts intended to cause extensive interference with, damage or destruction to critical infrastructure; develops, manufactures, possesses, acquires, transports, supplies or uses weapons, explosives or of biological, nuclear, radiological or chemical weapons; and release of dangerous substances, or causing fire, floods or explosions.”

The law allows the police or military to conduct a 60-day surveillance on suspected terrorists, although this can be lengthened to another non-extendable period of 30 days with judicial authority.

A suspected person can be detained without a warrant of arrest for 14 days, or 10 more days if authorities deem it necessary. This happens to be one of the provisions that angered Senator Francis Pangilinan, who voted with Senator Risa Hontiveros against the bill.

“The prolonged detention is an impingement of rights and liberty. Why 14 days? If security officials and law enforcers are doing their job, why will it take them long to file a case?” Pangilinan said.

‘Produce or invent evidence later?’
“Or, is the practice of arrest and detain now, produce or invent evidence later still prevalent, as it was when opposition leader Jovy Salonga was arrested, detained, and charged in 1981? The current law is not perfect, and, we, in Congress, should be working continuously to make it work for the people.”

Lacson, on the other hand, assures that the bill provides sufficient safeguard to ensure the basic human rights of the accused. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) shall immediately be notified in case of detention of a suspected terrorist.

The measure also mandates the CHR to give highest priority to investigate and prosecute violations of civil and political rights of persons and to prosecute officials or law enforcers who violate the basic rights of the suspects or detained persons.

The catch, however, is that SB 1083 removed the provision of payment of P500,000 (NZ$15,500) damages for each day of detention of persons acquitted of terrorism charges.

Events, however, render the SB 1083 at once timely and yet ill-timed. Timely while extremist terror is breathing down the neck of countries, but ill-timed most especially while we have a government that, while publicly claiming openness, seems at heart intolerant to dissent, indulging itself in a spree of red-tagging, arresting students, academics, social workers, priests and activists.

SB 1083 also comes at a time when government holds the most expensive intelligence work there is as far as budget goes, at a whopping P4.9 billion (NZ$154 million). With that much arm, we now have a highly omnipresent Big Brother practically watching over its citizens’ shoulders at any given time of the day.

This tilts the balance of power entirely and, if the wrong hands take the rein, might easily endanger our democracy.

SunStar is an independent community newspaper and online portal based in Cebu, Philippines. This editorial was published on 27 February 2020.

• Urban warfare: Marawi – 153 days and more

Philippines Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon has dismissed comments by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go that “politics” is behind the filing of a proposed concurrent resolution calling on regulators to temporarily allow television giant ABS-CBN to operate as Congress deliberates on its franchise application.

The Senate has the prerogative to pass a concurrent resolution expressing its “sense” on the matter, which does not have the force of law, unlike a joint resolution that needs to be passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives and signed by the president, Drilon told reporters on Wednesday.

“Being a neophyte senator, he (Go) may not be aware of our tradition and our rules. Precisely, a concurrent resolution does not go through the president because it has no force and effect of a law. It is just a sense of the Senate. There is no politics here,” Drilon said.

READ MORE: ‘Speak truth to power’ – Varsitarian reports

“We are not depriving the President of the right to veto or approve,” he added.

Drilon’s earlier proposed joint resolution seeks to extend ABS-CBN’s franchise until the end of 2022, prompting an accusation from Go that opposition senators did not want President Rodrigo Duterte to have a hand on the issue. Duterte steps down on June 30, 2022.

Go, on Monday’s Senate inquiry into the ABS-CBN franchise, gave an idea as to why the Duterte-controlled House of Representatives was stalling on the TV network’s licence renewal.

He said Duterte was displeased over ABS-CBN’s supposed refusal to air his 2016 campaign ad that was a response to an attack ad financed by an arch-critic, then senator Antonio Trillanes IV.

ABS-CBN on Monday said Commission on Election restrictions in the final stretch of the 2016 campaign prevented the Duterte ad from being aired, and that it returned the payment, but Duterte refused to accept it.

Go countered that it took a year for ABS-CBN to address the Duterte campaign’s grievance. “Remember, in an election campaign, especially in a presidential campaign, there is no tomorrow. Every second matters,” he said.

Guevarra vs Puno
Drilon, along with Senator Grace Poe, also dismissed comments by retired chief justice Reynato Puno that ABS-CBN cannot operate when its 25-year franchise expires, based on a 2003 court ruling.

The franchise expires on May 4, 2020, reckoned from the date of effectivity of 15 days after publication, which is April 19, 1995, according to the Department of Justice.

Drilon said Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra’s opinion – that ABS-CBN could be allowed to operate on a provisional authority from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) given Congress’ lack of time to pass a new franchise – should be binding throughout the Executive Branch.

“Guevarra said that on grounds of equity, the ABS-CBN can continue. Again, this is an opinion expressed by no less than the secretary of justice, whose opinion is binding on the entire executive branch, so this must be extended due respect.”

Guevarra gave his opinion on the franchise issue during Monday’s Senate inquiry called by Poe.

Drilon said he was in favor of doing what was “necessary in order to allow an objective debate on the renewal of the franchise, without the threat of ABS-CBN being closed.”

In fact, even without the concurrent resolution, a provisional authority would still be valid, he said.

‘Man of wisdom’
“That is the view of Secretary Guevarra; that is the view of Speaker Cayetano; and that is the view of Senator Poe as chairman of the committee on public services,” Drilon said.

Poe said that while Puno is a “man of integrity and wisdom,” a lot had happened since the 2003 ruling that he penned.

“And in fact, hundreds of franchises go through both houses of Congress and because of that, the cure of Congress, because sometimes they don’t have enough time to deliberate on it, is to direct the NTC to grant the provisional license,” Poe told ABS-CBN’s Karen Davila.

Poe also said that even without any resolution from Congress, ABS-CBN should continue operating, “even just by precedents of the acts of Congress in recent years.”

Several companies have been given provisional licenses, she pointed out, citing PT&T, Globe, Smart, GMA Network, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines and Marine Broadcasting.

Felipe F. Salvosa is coordinator of the journalism programme at the University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines and a contributor to Asia Pacific Report.

• More ABS-CBN television saga reports

The top lawyer of the Philippine Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) who was a controversial witness in Senate hearings on the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) controversy has been shot dead.

According to the police report, lawyer Fredric Santos was gunned down yesterday afternoon by two unidentified suspects in front of his daughter’s school in Muntinlupa City, as he was about to pick her up.

Santos suffered gunshot wounds to the head and was declared dead on the spot by the Muntinlupa City rescue team, police said.

READ MORE: Timeline – The GCTA law and the controversy it has stirred

Santos was the legal division chief of the BuCor who was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman and once detained by the Senate in September 2019 over controversies in the GCTA law’s implementation.

Santos’ office is not included in the process of screening for GCTA grants. But he was grilled by the Senate blue ribbon committee on his role in providing legal opinion on whether the BuCor chief needs the Justice Secretary’s approval to release inmates sentenced to reclusion perpetua.

At the Senate, Santos said he had told then-BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon of the rule requiring the justice secretary’s approval for releases.

But when Faeldon denied this, Santos backtracked and said he could not recall whether it was just relayed to a staff member.

Rambo Talabong is a Rappler journalist. This report was written with a file by Lian Buan.

Another “fake news” row has broken in the Philippines in the wake of the mid-term elections this week with Vice-President Leni Robredo rejecting false reports that she had promised to resign if no member of the opposition Otso Directso bloc wins a Senate seat.

The claim originated from a website that is known for spreading misleading information.

Robredo is regarded as a critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

READ MORE: Robredo: No matter the election results, Otso Diretso’s fight continues

Claim: Vice-President Leni Robredo made a promise to step down from her position if no member of the Otso Diretso slate won a Senate seat.

The claim has been circulating on Facebook, with one post featuring an image of Robredo, along with the text: “Remember her promise. If no one among 8 diretso will win the election she will step down as vice president. Do you think she will fulfill her promise?”

Various groups and pages on the social network, particularly those expressing support for President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies, have called on Robredo to fulfill the “promise” and resign.

One of the most shared posts can be found in “Atty Glenn Chong Supporters Group”. It had 3,000 shares, 892 reactions, and 330 comments as of writing.

The claim seems to have originated from an article published by The Adobo Chronicles on May 7, 2019. Since then, the story has been shared by 44 Facebook groups and pages and had drawn 6,945 total interactions from 1,546,053 combined followers, according to CrowdTangle.

The facts: The Vice-President had already denied the claim in a tweet on May 15.

She attached a screenshot of a version of the claim and captioned it on her official Twitter account: “Not true. Let’s continue fighting disinformation. Report peddlers of fake news.”

Though Adobo Chronicles’ article was dated May 7, the claim began circulating on Facebook the day after the 2019 midterm elections, May 14.

Robredo actively endorsed members of the Otso Diretso slate during the campaign period. She expressed support for the team both on social media and on the ground up until the elections results started to come out.

But while the opposition slate managed to get some wins in Bicol, Robredo’s home region, not a single member was able to enter the top 12 lineup on the national level.

As of writing, 96.3 percent of total votes have already been transmitted.

Adobo Chronicles claims to be a satirical website, but it has been known to spread misleading information.

• Pauline Macaraeg is a journalist for Rappler. This report is part of a “Fact check” series published by the website.
  
• Philippines opposition fails to rock Duterte’s Senate dominance

Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk

All 12 spots open for election in the Philippines Senate have been dominated by President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies without a single opposition candidate becoming a senator, according to early unofficial results.

The projected result of the Philippines mid-term elections represents a consolidation of President Duterte’s power across the country, reports Rappler.

Senator Cynthia Villar was the top victor with a total of 24,082,934 votes, based on the latest partial and unofficial results from the Commission on Elections transparency server earlier today, with 92.61 percent of precincts having transmitted results.

READ MORE: Otso Diretso’s catch-up trail

Completing the 11 seats are other senators up for reelection and administration candidates who ran under Duterte’s PDP-Laban and the Hugpong ng Pagbabago slate of his daughter and Davao City mayor Sara Duterte Carpio.

In second place with 21,078,911 votes was Grace Poe, followed by former special assistant to the president Bong Go in third place, with 19,480,785 votes.

Al Jazeera reports that although mostly supportive of Duterte, the outgoing Senate had so far tempered his more polarising objectives, such as reinstating the death penalty or redrafting the constitution to change the form of government from unitary to federal – a move that may allow Duterte to stay in power indefinitely.

Critics have expressed fears that a victory for Duterte’s allies would reduce the Senate’s independence and prevent it from keeping a check on the president, whom they expect to further push for his platforms as his single six-year term enters its home run.

‘Truth voices lacking’
“Clearly, there are few who make a stand in the government nowadays,” said Senator Leila de Lima, jailed on illegal drug charges after she ran an investigation into thousands of killings in Duterte’s “war on drugs”.

“Our institutions lack voices for justice and truth. Many fear persecution and choose to kowtow just to stay in power,” she said in a statement yesterday.

Except for Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, and Lito Lapid, all top candidates in yesterday’s election belong to the administration-backed Hugpong ng Pagbabago slate.

Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito placed 13th, registering 13,651,401 votes. He was behind Bong Revilla by around 220,000 votes.

None of the opposition candidates of the Liberal Party-led Otso Diretso ticket made it to the so-called “Magic 12”, including its two veteran candidates who had breached the winners’ circle in preelection surveys – Senator Bam Aquino and former interior chief Mar Roxas.

Aquino placed only 14th with 13,499,806 votes, behind Revilla by around 340,000. Roxas recorded 9,382,159 and landed at 16th place.

An election analyst said opposition candidates should have united to present a “new vision” for the Philippines that would have countered the Duterte administration’s narrative of strongman rule, reports Rappler.

Arjan Aguirre, a political science instructor at Ateneo de Manila University, said the opposition’s strategy of focusing only on specific issues was ineffective to counter a president who continued to enjoy high satisfaction ratings despite the controversies hounding his administration.

Stacked odds
The odds have long been stacked against the opposition candidates, most of whom ran either under the Otso Diretso slate or the Labour Win coalition of labour groups.

Most of them struggled with running a nationwide campaign, having no steady campaign funds, and few to zero politicians and donors willing to endorse them publicly.

But Vice-President Leni Robredo, who campaigned diligently for Otso Diretso, remained positive until the end, reports Rappler.

The Otso Diretso candidates had hoped they would be able to pull off another come-from-behind victory like Robredo did in the 2016 vice presidential polls.

“Whatever the outcome of the elections is, tingin ko panalo na kami – panalo na in uniting a lot of people na pare-pareho iyong paniniwala (I think we’re already winners – winners in uniting a lot of people who believe) in the things that are happening in our midst,” said the opposition leader after she voted at Naga City yesterday afternoon.

• More Philippines stories

Pacific Media Centre’s Southern Cross radio programme on the Philippines mid-term elections.

Opposition senatorial canidate Chel Diokno, a veteran human rights lawyer, won the endorsement of former justices of the Philippines Supreme Court and ombudsmen as the campaign draws to a close.

Former SC justices Antonio Nachura and Roberto Abad and former ombudsmen Conchita Carpio Morales and Simeon Marcelo threw their support behind Diokno in a news conference yesterday for Monday’s general election.

Nachura said Diokno showed promise for his work as a member of the prosecution of the Joseph Estrada impeachment trial more than a decade ago.

READ MORE: Rene Saguisag endorses Diokno, the ‘voice of human rights’ in Senate

“Noong nalaman kong kakandidato si Chel (When I found out Chel would run for senator), I enlisted myself as a volunteer for him because of his passion for justice and his passion for quality education,” Nachura said.

Nachura, who served as SC justice under the Gloria Arroyo administration, said: “Pagkakataon ko nang makapagbayad kahit kaunti para sa nagawa ni Chel sa ating lahat.” (This is my chance to repay him for what he has done for all of us.)

Diokno heads the 45-year-old Free Legal Assistance Group, which has handled clients such as relatives of those who died in the 1987 MV Doña Paz tragedy, witnesses in the kidnapping case against retired army major-general Jovito Palparan, and most recently, victims of drug war killings, indigenous groups against martial law in Mindanao, fishermen against commercial fishing, and fishermen against the neglect of the West Philippine Sea.

Diokno scored small wins recently, when the SC compelled the Duterte administration to publicly release tens of thousands of drug war documents, and when the High Court issued a writ of kalikasan for the fishermen who complained against government neglect in the Spratly territories.

Founding dean
Diokno is also the founding dean of the De La Salle University College of Law.

“He worked with me, when the Supreme Court invited him to help us in the revision of the rules of civil procedure and he did fine work in his assignment,” said Abad, whose first work out of law school was for Diokno’s father, former senator Jose W. Diokno.

“We have a wonderful guy here, who can really serve our country more than many of our candidates who may be popular because they’re exposed to media,” said Abad.

Marcelo told reporters he has long promised not to be involved in politics after his term as ombudsman, but that supporting Diokno in his campaign was a chance he could not pass up.

“Kilalang-kilala siya bilang abogado na tagapagtanggol ng karapatang pantao at ating mga naaaping kababayan, mga mahihirap,” said Marcelo.

(He is well known as a lawyer who defends human rights of poor and oppressed Filipinos.)

Morales, who has been shying away from political statements since retiring as ombudsman in 2018, did not speak but told reporters she supports Diokno.

Uphill battle
Before the press conference, Morales said that while Diokno’s candidacy may be an uphill battle, “everything is possible”.

Far Eastern University Institute of Law dean Mel Sta Maria and Lyceum of the Philippines University College of Law dean Sol Mawis also endorsed Diokno.

“Mahal ni Chel higit sa lahat ang batas. Pero mas may mahal pa siya sa batas – ang katarungan,” Mawis said. (Chel loves the law most of all. But more than the law, what he loves is justice.)

Asia Pacific Report republishes Rappler articles in collaboration.