Inside Philippine politics & beyond

Congress now rushing a law that will legalize dictatorship

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By Raïssa Robles

Congress intends to give Filipinos a bitter Christmas gift this December – a dictatorship disguised in legal wrapping.

The government of President Rodrigo Duterte has been quite inventive in trying to impose authoritarian rule. First there was the threat of nationwide Martial Law. Next, a revolutionary government. After that, federalism. And now we have proposed amendments to the Human Security Act of 2007.

The amendments will impose authoritarian rule – WITHOUT EVEN THE NEED TO DECLARE MARTIAL LAW.

I was quite shocked when I read the draft laws. They reminded me of the wording of Ferdinand Marcos’ secret decrees.

Congressman Amado Espino, Jr. and Senate President Vicente Sotto filed identical bills. Both bills came from security officials of Duterte. A third bill, filed by Senator Panfilo Lacson, inserted some sections that would guarantee civil liberties.

But it still falls short.

I explain why in a piece published just now in South China Morning Post.

I will be the last person to want to hamstring government in combating terrorism by extremists inspired by the Middle East. I have covered enough of Muslim extremism.

I was the last person to have talked to Congressman Wahab Akbar on his mobile phone before he got killed by a bomb just outside the Batasang Pambansa building.

And for years, I was interviewing Dr. Nilo Barandino who was stalking the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan after the group had abducted his family and held them for ransom.

The proposed law, however, goes beyond fighting this kind of terrorism.

As human rights lawyer, Prof. Antonio Gabriel La Viña said, it would establish “state terrorism”, much like what we had during Ferdinand Marcos’ Martial Law.

The effect would be like dynamite fishing. It would lay waste the rule of law and destroy lives. Which is why I suspect that the amendments are not really meant to address terrorism but to curb even legal dissent against Duterte.

I have posted below a portion of my SCMP article, with a link to the full story.

Below the extract, I am posting the links to the proposed law so you can download them and read them yourself.

Philippines plans law to give Duterte Marcos-like powers

New legislation that would grant the Philippine president powers similar to martial law comes amid claims by critics that he made up the alleged ‘Red October’ coup plot to justify a crackdown on the opposition

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 03 October, 2018, 7:32pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 03 October, 2018, 7:32pm

RAISSA ROBLES

The Congress of the Philippines is rushing approval of a new law that could give President Rodrigo Duterte wide-ranging powers similar to those of his idol, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The death penalty will be restored. Torture, allowed. Filipinos could be jailed for their posts on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. Suspected terrorists and even “unwilling witnesses” could be arrested without warrants and detained for 30 days without charge during an “actual or imminent terrorist attack”.

These are just some of the amendments proposed by Philippine security officials to the current Human Security Act of 2007 or Republic Act 9372.

The proposals come amid claims by the Duterte administration that the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, together with opposition political parties and civil society groups, has been plotting a coup called “Red October” to overthrow the president.

However, the claims have been rubbished by critics, who say the plot has been made up to justify a crackdown on the opposition and pave the way for martial law.

In a Senate hearing on Monday, defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana pushed for approval of the new law, saying: “We won’t need to use martial law if we have something else that would give our security agencies a bit more teeth.”

To read the rest of my story, please click on this link.

Here are the links to the bills: 

Senate bill filed by Senate President Vicente Sotto. This came from Duterte’s security officials.

Version of Senator Panfilo Lacson. Note that Lacson would probably sponsor the measure on the Senate floor.

House version filed by Congressman Amado Espino, Jr. This version is identical to that of Sotto.

The present Human Security Act of 2007.

Comments

  1. oot:

    tanong: nasaan si pdut?
    sagot ni harry roque: nasa davao
    bonggo: nasa hongkong kasama si honeylet at kitty.

    puede ba ito na anytime lalabas ng bansa ang isang presidente para sa personal/family trip? early christmas shopping sa hongkong ba itong ‘red october”. honeylet wearing red blouse while kitty having a red sweater around her arms.

    • and to prove na wrong si roque, bong go posted pics from hongkong.

      digong cannot be in two places at once, in dabaw and in hongkong, which is which?

      pero, roque need not worry, may christmas gift din yata siya, bought in hongkong.

      bad thing is both roque and bong go may run for public office, both want to be senator.

      I say, both should not be voted in, dapat voted out sila.

  2. On amnesty requirements. . . my previous post did not succeed as moderated.

    * * *Furthermore, this point has already been passed upon by this court in the case of Barrioquinto v. Fernandez, L-1278 (46 Off. Gaz., 3031), 1 where it was held that “in order to entitle a person to the benefits of the amnesty proclamation of September 17, 1946 (Proclamation No. 8), it is not necessary that he should, as a condition precedent or sine qua non, admit having committed the criminal act or offense with which he is charged and allege the amnesty as a defense.” One of the reasons given in support of that doctrine was that a contrary ruling would be unjust and disadvantageous to the accused because to require him to admit having committed the offense or being responsible therefor before he could invoke the benefits of amnesty, since there is no law which makes such admission or confession inadmissible as evidence against him in court during trial, in the event that the Amnesty Commission finds that the offense does not come within the terms of the amnesty proclamation, nobody or few would assume the risk of submitting their cases to the Amnesty Commission. * * *

    There is no law which makes such admission or confession inadmissible as evidence. . .

    EN BANC [G.R. No. L-2540. January 28, 1950.]
    BENIGNO S. VIRAY, Petitioner, v. THE AMNESTY COMMISSION OF THE ARMED FORCES OF THE PHILIPPINES, and JUAN D. CRISOLOGO, Respondents.

    http://www.chanrobles.com/cralaw/1950januarydecisions.php?id=14

  3. China’s National Supervision Commission, what is it? It is a new bully-body created by the National People’s Congress. We just might have one like it soon?

    What does this NSC – Commission do? It can snatch anyone, civilian or even public officials, even China’s president of Its Interpol Agency. Snatch is alike to arrest. And maybe disappear too from the face of the earth.

    China’s NSC: 1.) is ranked above the judiciary in the country’s newly amended constitution.

    2.) it expands Xi’s battle against corruption to cover not only Communist Party members but also managers of state-owned companies and institutions, including schools, universities, hospitals and cultural institutions.

    3.) to root out suspected graft and to enforce strict ideological control and loyalty to the party and president. 4.) it suffers and extinguishes the light of due process, and of a transparent and fair legal system.

    4.) Detainees can be held without access to lawyers for up to six months, while the right to inform families of a detainee’s whereabouts. And more for the ‘will of one-man rule.’

    5.) It makes it easier for the ruler to do things without Martial Law or military rule.

    Our alike proposed amendments on the Human Rights Security Act is also to be under a ‘Commission’ just like China’s NSC. Are our leaders copying this idea in substance, etc.? Maybe.

  4. ISANG IDEYA PARA SA INFLATION

    Mayroon akong idea para sa inflation, na tumaas pa ulit ngayong Sept 2018.

    Pwede ba papilahin lahat ng ka-DDS sa kanan, at lahat ng ayaw kay DU30 sa kaliwa.

    Yung ayaw kay DU30 bibigyan ng discount coupons para lahat ng pinamimili nila tulad ng presyo nung 2010-16, bago umupo si Duterte.

    Yung mga ka-DDS naman, yung mataas na presyo ang sa kanila.

    Para naman patas laban, dahil kagagawan yan ng ka-DDS tapos lahat tayo magdurusa?

    hi hi

    • love, love, love your idea po. and would be even better if people turn outwards and go to their baranggay tanods, district reps and those they have voted to office, and complain, complain and complain instead to turning inwards to themselves and tightening their already tightened belts. complain to those they have elected, and not be fobbed off by excuses. not to be ashamed of complaining, of being called daingeros, sige daing ng daing and make sure the right people are listening. it’s them that should be ashamed, not us.

      if told, elect me in 2019 and I will make your life easy, sabihin nyo make it easy now or I wont vote for you. vote for me in 2019 and I will make prices go down, bwelta nyo, bring prices down now or I wont vote for you, do something now, or I wont vote for you! they have already been voted in and if they want to be voted in again, they have to up the ante and do something now, not do something later.

      if bong go can make his face into big time kalat and prices are still high, dont vote for him po. dont vote for those politicians not helping in bringing prices down, dont vote for those that dont listen to their constituents, passing inflation problems and blaming it on others.

      loren legarda said it’s the govt’s problem, but isnt she important part of the govt? if she wants to be elected again, she has to do more than just say it’s the govt’s problem. action is needed not words.

  5. Kanser ng Lipunan-May Kanser!

    Di na talaga kayang itago na may kanser si Digong!

    As I mentioned before, konti lang ang nakakaalam ng kanser ni Digong: Bong Go, Inday Sarah, Oncologist and staff administering chemo, and trusted PSG detail.

    Pag absent si Digong, lalo na mga ilang araw, may treatment yan kasi painful saka naghihina pa yan at walng apetite. Ang effect din nyan ay temporary lucidity, kaya yan umamin din na nasa ospital pero colonoscopy at endoscopy raw at may biopsy pa, pero chemo yan!

    ‘Napaka-unreliable’ ng mga sources ko, stage 4 na daw!

    Parekoy
    10-04-2018

    • na-red october si duterte, his insides are rebelling, poisoned yata by all those he had taken by mouth. hinuhunta na.

    • Natawa naman ako dito sa sinabi mo, Parekoy –

      “Ang effect din nyan ay temporary lucidity…”

      Pero tama ka. Parang may dalawang Digong minsan na nagsasalita.

      • Temporary lucidity. . . 50% lang? 45% lang? Like poll surveys = + – allowance?

        How do the public know kong ‘dalawang Digong nagsasalita’? Baka anim or eight?

        Being close now to China, a lot of supply of birds’ nest might have been landed in Davao City by Chinese mil aircraft every now and then. He is decided not to go to USA or Europe for medical treatment.

        Re the proposed amendments to the law, tama = like martial law effects. The critical point of the proposed amendments erases the protection of the Article III Bill of Rights law and SC jurisprudence on it. There will be NO WARRANT of arrests issued by our courts needed. This will CLASH with Article III, etc. on MERE SUSPICIONS for taking custody/ARREST of person(s).

        The courts will not be flooded with it like EJK but there will be so many if not more petitions for Habeas Corpus before the courts and this will be a FLOOD to drown almost anyone on being just a SUSPECT for more than 30 or more days because one is allegedly suspected to violate all the criminal laws of this country.

        Ang mga military at pulis will become so extremely powerful than the courts/judges.

        I read the proposed amendments. If Congress hurry it up to become a law, it means no great study for deliberation on these was taken up to protect and maintain the people’s rights whatever is remaining at hand now.

        Everyone, including the military and policemen, will be matatakot! No one is safe from arrest or taken in-custody.

        • must be disappointing for digong, his lucidity moments stolen, doused by roque and given the make over. digong is made tuloy the irrelevant president, the scatter brain.

          death penalty will affect mostly the poor and those that cannot afford to hire lawyers. the rich can pay their way out and buy their freedom.

          30 days to hold suspects without charges being laid, 30 days can be extended to 40 days! and that will only serve to make detectives and kapolisan lazy and sleeping on the job instead of being alert. alam mo naman ang pinoys, wait until the deadline is near before acting sila.

          and where in the blighted durian are they going to keep suspects? punong puno na ang jails natin, standing room only na. and they have got to be fed too.

          ang gobyernong ito is really good in wasting resources.

        • and being dictator is not guarantee digong will not be toppled down from office. dictators the world over are always toppled, some spectacularly and disorderly-ly done.

        • pass new laws, sabi ni lorenzana, and give govt agencies more teeth!

          they have already been given hefty pay rises and now they want more teeth? how about more rolex watches, more cell phones so china can monitor and spy at the military?

          the military have not used their teeth back then, dont know how kasi, else they would have staged coup, or junta. wala silang precedent, e. successful precedent, that is.

          had the military used their teeth, marawi city would not have been laid to waste! more teeth! nagtatae na nga sila ng teeth and still asking for more teeth? dyos na mahabagin, the military cannot even safeguards the documents of soldiers availing the amnesty, the country pa kaya?

          teeth and more teeth and higher than average budget, the military is greedy.

    • I had a friend who died of cancer and when I attended her wake, I was shocked to see her face was black! Really black as black. I didn’t have the heart to ask why because I wasn’t close to her family. But I presume it was because of chemo. Was I right?

      • uhm, usually po sa funerarya, the dead is cleaned, washed and prepared, and make up is applied to make the dead look presentable, hair is styled and new clothes put on. and depending on how much money is paid, the dead can be made to look prettier than when alive.

        though there are those that prefer the dead to look like the dead, sans make up.

        usually, if in palliative care and prognosis is not encouraging, chemo is stopped. no point spending all that chemo money when outcome is nil, the family is thusly advised. but if the family want to throw all that good money away in the hope that there is going to be miracle, why torture the sick just because it make the family feel hopeful?

        chemo is painful and there are bad side effects, those that are tired of enduring chemo may opt not to have chemo and go into palliative care. they’ll be given the best pain killer and life becomes a breeze. they may be comatose though and may no longer be able to communicate, but by then, all the communication have been done, wills and testament attended to, then the waiting . . . waiting . . .

        if I am being presumptive, my apologies po.

        • No need to apologize and thanks. BTW the family is well-off and the deceased was a vice-president of a bank so, money wasn’t an issue.

    • in trying to be dictator, all duterte got is pangunsumi big time! his body deteriorating na, that’s what he got yata for taking massive doses of chinese herbal medicines. very good kuno sa insides niya yang birds nest ng swallows, and thanks talaga to birds nest from china ayan na ospital tuloy siya,. nagantihan yata sa kalalamun ng birds nests. those tiny little birds working hard to make nest for their offspring, and here comes duterte eating them stolen nests, encouraging bird nests thieves to widen their very lucrative business with no regard for the swallows.

      god knows where those swallows got materials for their nests, whether radioactive materials and harmful to health or not. china ngayon is very polluted and the chinese do not trust their own infant milk formulas. china is famous for adulterated food products.

      sa nakaraang inflammatory bowel disease forum sa cebu, guest speaker duterte talked about his toilet problem, that of his son sebastian’s and that of his mother’s as well. constipated kuno sila kaayo and thanks to bird nests, naging regular ang bowel movement kuno ng mag-ama, ang husay kuno at ang galing. sobrang galing yata at may tumobo na hindi dapat tumobo, may abnormalities sa insides.

      tokhang swallows! he, he, he.

        • thanks po. dried saliva pala yang bird nest. I am presuming commercial bird nests are radiated to kill off fungus, parasites, etc. hermetically sealed with use by date.

          if the birds are not farmed, not all birds in the wild are healthy. some have parasites, maybe sick with flu and there are others that have bird t.b. and maybe infected with the germ mycobaterium avium tuberculosis. my uncle was once positive to mycobacterium avium tuberculosis and was treated for 5months, his free range alagang pigeons were quarantined.

          saliva of birds, and like any saliva, may digestive enzymes ang mga iyan. in ingesting birds nest and to have birds digestive enzymes on top of our own digestive enzymes, aba mukhang riot sa tiyan ang labas. too many enzymes cannot be good. not like money in the bank, the more, the better. but enzymes? the body’s system can cope with overloading of enzymes, but once too many overloading may result in unwanted outcome.

          my drinking buddy and fellow tambay said not to worry dahil baka denatured na raw yong birds nest. still . . .

    • from Rappler news highlighted,

      Face color of Digong…bad. Brown color going to color black?

      Past weeks/months – same face color. Cancer cells loves protein like Bird’s nest.

      Time to live forever in the next life . . . Be happy before it.

      • uhm, nasa hongkong yata si digong with kabit and daughter. next time seen, baka hindi na muklang uling si digong. he could well have facial skin dermabrasion sa hongkong and his face will not be kulay uling. he, he, he.

        • May selfie na nga si bonggo, doing early Christmas shopping daw. Sa isang picture nakaface mask pa so D30 with honeylet and kitty.

          Did he break protocol in travelling to other country?

        • ahem, that’s how duterte solves inflation, by shopping overseas. buying mens wear yata, dapat buying diapers na siya, he may need them soon.

          dressed in black pa siya at pinagluksa na yata ang sarili, he, he, he. accessorizing with black face mask. anyhow po, sabi ni health sec duque, there’s nothing to worry about.

          baka talagang drama king lang yang si digong, greedy for sympathy and wants people to fuss about him. kung tutuusin, digong is not the only one undergoing gastrointestinal exam, there are others po, their situation more dire than his.

          kung appearing concern ang marami sa health niya, it could well be they want him gone, dead and buried, so pinas can bangon uli, the economy revived and inflation controlled.

          and digong could not be breaking health protocol po, health sec duque would have given him the all clear, in exchange for christmas gifts, he, he, he.

    • tino, the truth hurts and hurts badly. truth strips pretension and lowers the proud. reality can be awful, ugly and devastating.

      and your truth may not be our truth. god has given you wisdom, use it please.