"Anti-Terror Law to fuel further dissent"
At first, this note disagrees with the order's proposed "anti terrorism act of 2020".
For regardless of its intent, this proposed law and its provisions, brought by Duterte’s minions in Congress will further reinforce the tyrant's martial law regime and aggrandize his military camarilla with even more powers to perpetuate their repressive policy in the name of “fighting terror.” Furthermore, it showed the utter disregard to the people, particularly the immediate need to check the spread of COVID19 pandemic, such as demanding funding for free mass testing and other urgent measures; and instead an obsession to control people’s freedoms and bullheaded insistence to establish a “new normal” of militarist and neoliberal policies.
In the same way as that made Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, this act will be used to terrorize and silence, shut all avenues for democratic expression, as it gives the military and police the license to pounce on anyone it wants to accuse of being a "terrorist", along with warrantless arrests, wiretapping, and surveillance to those being suspected.
However, even before this kind of act being railroaded threats against the concerned masses been shown be it in the president's month or by the deed of his supporters: from the non-health military lockdown, maligning concerned government officials to the shutting down of ABS-CBN, to the recent killing of urban poor leader Carlito Badion, this give the people a glimpse into the gross abuse of power which Duterte and his ilk are set to commit with the proposed act.
Furthermore, it gives bureaucrats to fill their coffers for their interests, with a new "Anti Terrorism Council" with its budget and staff determining who is a "terrorist".
But the fears of abuse, misinterpretation, or misapplication of laws including this by the order will further aggravate tensions instead of its supposed pacification. Especially in this pandemic crisis, the order took this situation as an opportunity to push their interest such as putting down opposition on the basis of "human security", and that includes hampering the right to speech, press, assembly, organise, even the right to mutual assistance such as in this period. Furthermore, it may lead further to the creation of new laws, that supports or supplants this kind of "security measure".
It is not surprising actually that the order wished for a new normal that's based on fear and coercion. As the apologists threw themselves in support of this measure, it is obvious that they wished to sacrifice civil rights and liberties for the sake of what they perceive as security and stability. As in the past, stifling the right to dissent has been the major topic especially as the masses concerned exposed and opposed the antipeople agendas and its actions brought by the order, but it is clear that the Filipino people, no matter the risks, are filled up with the Duterte regime’s militarist response to every situation, that they had enough with the tyranny that tries to cover its atrocity what more of using this pandemic as an "opportunity" to create a "new normal" scheme to pave way to a renewed phase of repression similar to Oplan Tokhang, Oplan Sauron which all meant state terrorism in the guise of "antiterrorism".