As COVID-19 continues to spread in the Philippines, its health workers have been in the frontline of the battle to provide urgent care and save lives despite inadequate staffing and personal protective equipment (PPE). But the pandemic is not the only grave threat the country faces: on 3 July, a harsh anti-terrorism bill was signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte. The Philippines’ human rights defenders, activists, scholars, journalists, lawyers and organisers now face a formidable battle to defend civil and democratic rights in the wake of legislation intended to silence any and all voices critical of the government.
The Anti-Terrorism Act
Republic Act No 11479, which became law last week despite “strong cautionary comments” from within President Rodrigo Duterte’s own Cabinet and intense opposition from civil society organisations, is an amendment to the Philippines’ Human Security Act of 2007. The Senate passed a version of the bill in February 2020, apparently with no consultation with human rights advocates or the broader public. Despite the opposition it attracted, the bill was approved by the country’s House of Representatives on 3 June, after being certified urgent by Duterte, who then had 30 days either to veto it or approve it: just days ago, to no one’s surprise, he did the latter. Plainly put, the law has the potential to criminalise anyone in the country’s rich civil society networks who is working to address the root causes of inequalities, to speak up for human rights, and to defend democracy.
Long before this new law came into being, Duterte’s government has drawn criticism at home and abroad for its repressive, militaristic “War on Drugs” and its neglect of Filipinos’ fundamental social and economic rights. Popularly described as the "terror law”, it is seen by critics as the institutionalisation of the hallmarks of Duterte’s reign: a state-led, systemic attack on dissent and democratic rights and freedoms. Moreover, lawyers, legislators and human rights advocates have called attention to parts of the law that are unconstitutional.
