Imee Marcos: No to anti- subversion law’s revival

EDITORIAL

Sen. Imee Marcos, whose father, the late President Ferdinand Marcos spent years trying to lick insurgency but failed, is averse to a call among military and police supporters to fight insurgency by reviving the law that makes it a crime to be a communist.
                "The Anti-Subversion Act is a relic of the Cold War era," Sen. Imee R. Marcos said Tuesday. It is not ideology but criminal acts that should be punished," Marcos said.

The senator explained that "updating and upgrading the country's anti-terrorism law" - the Human Security Act of 2007 - would provide a "stronger legal instrument than the Anti-Subversion Act of 1957 to punish crimes committed in the name of ideology, religion, politics, or economic gains."

Marcos earlier filed Senate Bill 630, known as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2019, to increase the liability of crimes listed in the Human Security Act, providing for a possible death penalty for rebellion, insurrection, coup d'etat, arson, kidnapping, and hijacking, among others.

Other violent or premeditated acts that intend to sow fear and panic among the public, threaten the government, or disrupt public services are also considered forms of terrorism in Marcos's bill, as are new modes of promoting and committing violence using computer technology, educational institutions, and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear material.
Sen. Marcos's stand against reviving the Anti-Subversion Act is not the first time she has gone against a position taken by her father President Marcos, who expanded the coverage of the said law during his term.

The creation of the Youth Civic Action Program (YCAP) and Youth Development Training (YDT) in the 70's was borne out of her opposition to the mandatory Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) program first instituted by her father, Sen. Marcos revealed in a press statement.
She has proposed to make ROTC an option rather than a requirement for college students in Senate Bill 413, which prescribes a Civil Service Program to instill patriotism among students in grade school to college.  

The country's 12-year-old anti-terrorism law must be updated soon to cope with the digital, transnational, and evolving nature of terrorism, Marcos said.

New modes of terrorism and what used to be mere predicate crimes are now main offenses punishable with life imprisonment or a possible death penalty in Senate Bill 630, which Marcos filed to give more teeth to the Human Security Act of 2007.

"Terrorist activity in Philippine territory has become frequent and commonplace," Marcos said, citing the first recorded case of a Filipino suicide bomber in Sulu last July and the conviction of two terrorist suspects that included an Indonesian earlier this year. 

Not mentioned in the present law, cyber attacks on computer systems are considered punishable terrorist acts in the Marcos bill and would compel system providers to give customer information to law enforcers.

Recruiting terrorists and glorifying violent acts that sow fear and panic among the public or threaten the government or public services, whether done personally or through the media, are also in the bill’s roster of terrorist acts.

"Neither religion, ideology, politics, nor economic goals can excuse acts of violent extremism," Marcos said.

Naming the violent use of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear material as terrorist acts will also harmonize national law with international agreements, Marcos added.

Educational institutions found involved in terrorist indoctrination will have its licenses revoked, its officials made liable, and be immediately shut down.

Senate Bill 630 also provides for hold-departure orders on terrorist suspects and swifter access to their bank accounts by giving the Anti-Terrorism Council the authority to seek on its own a court order to open them.

Marcos also proposed to delineate media coverage of hostage-taking incidents by prioritizing concerns of national security and law enforcement efficiency, recalling the international embarrassment caused by the Luneta hostage crisis in 2010.

Violent acts against Filipinos abroad are also punishable in Marcos's bill, nor will planning terrorist acts outside the country or seeking shelter in embassies within the country give legal refuge to foreign or Filipino terrorists for attacks committed in Philippine territory.