Hello friends!

Today’s look at the Anti-Terror Bill the Philippines has ended up about 1200 words longer than I’d intended and it is by no means a full picture of what is happening. BUT I do think this would be one of the biggest stories in Asia right now if it weren’t for, you know, literally everything happening at once. 

This story won’t be going away anytime soon, so expect a follow-up in the next few weeks.

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Erin Cook

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What does the bill look like?

This exhaustive piece from the Philippine Star digs into the most controversial aspect of the law — the extraordinarily hazy definition of what constitutes ‘terrorism’:

These charges will carry a 12-year sentence:

Activists and dissidents say that under the loose definition hallmarks of a healthy democracy, such as demonstrations and protests, could now be deemed ‘terrorism’. All of this is decided by the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), which will include appointments from the government.  

Politics is messy, but this is something else

The Senate passed the bill back in February and it passed Congress last Wednesday after being deemed ‘urgent’ by President Durterte, I believe his first time doing so during his tenure. Congress saw 173 in favour, 31 against and 29 sitting it out. But in the face of growing rage from not just the ‘usual’ voices but across society, the big win is looking a little spineless.

On accusations that it was ‘railroaded’ through the House, Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon, who withdrew his support for the bill, discussed the complications as reported by ABS-CBN. "One thing was evident was that people are trying to interpret it in their own way, like picking out certain parts of the bill and saying that’s controversial. Destabilization has always been used against those who either criticized or try to put down the government but as I said the entire section should be taken together to get what the intention of the bill is," he said. 

Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda has also switched his ‘yes’ vote to an abstention citing similar concerns about the vagueness of definitions. 

Vice President Leni Robredo has slammed the messed up priorities, saying she hopes the fight against coronavirus would trump all. “Not one of the needs I mentioned [the lack of public transport and the goal of 30,000 coronavirus tests daily] can be met by this law,” she said. 

Senator Panfilo Lacson, who co-authored the bill while in the Senate, says now it has passed both Houses it can’t be recalled but left it open for Department of Justice intervention. “The DOJ can still interfere by advising the President to veto the bill altogether. Because remember, this is not a revenue measure nor is it a budget measure, so there’s no line-item veto here. Either the President vetoes the bill in whole, not in part, or he approves it,” he said, as reported by the Inquirer. 

Given the President’s obvious interest in seeing the bill become law, his disregard for widespread criticism and track record on human and political rights I don’t think at this stage there is any serious indication that he will do anything but lovingly sign it into law. More, I think the spinelessness of some lawmakers here, hedging bets with both the administration and critics, explains a lot about the last few years. 

The fightback begins

Scores of human rights activists have sounded the alarm. Asian Forum of Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) issued a statement saying: "The anti-terrorism bill would institutionalize and facilitate an abuse of power, leading to the weaponization of the law against its people."

ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights agrees. “Not only does the proposed law very loosely define terrorism, leaving it open to abuse, it also allows authorities to arrest suspected terrorists without warrant,” board member and former Thai diplomat Kasit Piromya said in a statement. 

The law comes as the United Nations issues a report on the ‘near’ impunity of the drug war.

The country’s op-ed writers have swung even harder and raised the spectre of Marcos’ martial law period. In his Inquirer column, John Nery notes that a new Council will play the role of Marcos and will likely be stacked with Duterte-allies. “This is a civil rights calamity — and as we should have learned from bitter experience under Marcos, can very quickly become a weapon, a continuing act of terror, against the people themselves. To serve and save democracy, don’t turn public officials and police officers into terrorists,” he writes. 

The Swifties are coming. Taylor Swift fans, an army in their own right to rival AFP and even K-pop stans, got a crash course in what’s at stake via the superstar’s Instagram earlier this week. In her Story, she echoed calls for mass testing and included the hashtag #OustDuterte. "When you’re done: Educate yourself. This doesn’t go away once the topic isn’t trending," she told her 133 million followers.

Analysts say the long-running communist insurgency is in the crosshairs. The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) armed wing New People’s Army (NPA) in particular. But who is considered a ‘communist threat’ is fluid and can be used as a threat.

A note on red-tagging 

So-called ‘red-tagging’ is a long-used tactic in the Philippines where critics are accused of being part of the communist insurgency or align to the ideology to undermine and criminalise behaviour. In recent years, environmental activists, Catholic missionaries and anti-Duterte opposition have been victims of red-tagging. It has already been a dangerous game, but with the new bill, it can now ease criminalisation and imprisonment. It has already begun.

The Cebu 7 

Here we go, some must have been thinking Friday with the arrest of seven protestors against the bill. Police entered the University of the Philippines Cebu campus and hauled away a handful of students, alum and other protestors. The seven, since deemed the Cebu 7, are accused of endangering others in a time of public health emergency. 

In addition to the clear attack on dissent, the arrest is also a violation of a 1989 agreement between the university and the Department of National Defense. The Philippine Star explains the agreement bars the presence of police or military on any UP campus without the express permission of the university administration. 

The Philippine National Police issued a statement advising Pinoys to avoid demonstrations as the risk of COVID-19 remains high (a statement heard from police around the world in the last week!). “We were alarmed at the mass action and public assembly at UP Diliman campus yesterday which was held while strict public health measures are still being implemented to stop the spread of COVID-19,” PNP spokesman Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac said, as reported by the Inquirer. Multiple outlets have reported social distancing measures appeared to be in place during the campus demo. 

The campus administration has called for the immediate release of the students and others saying they were “exercising their right to peaceful assembly.” "Our students are not criminals and they were despicably manhandled by police force who were in full battle gear and heavy firearms during the arrest. This is totally unacceptable,” the administration said in a statement, as reported by CNN Philippines. 

It’s probably unnecessary to explicitly point this out, but it’s doing my head. It’s very convenient for some quarters that the bill is so urgent it usurps the country’s response to the pandemic but COVID-19 is too important to allow demonstrating against the bill. 

Activism has logged on

Social media has, of course, exploded. The #Junkterrorbillnow, #ActivismIsNotTerrorism and #OustDuterte hashtags have been useful with loads of graphics and commentary explaining the situation for foreigners and less engaged Filipinos. Instagram particularly is amazing, is every activist also a brilliant artist or designer?

But there’s also some seriously shady business going on. The importance of social media in the Philippines has been reflected on a billion times, so this is the latest development to prove the rule. 

A surge in fake Facebook accounts bearing the names of activists, academics, journalists and so on have appeared in recent days. The Justice Department and the National Bureau of Investigation have vowed to get to the bottom of what’s going on. “This gives me cause for worry. We don’t need false information at a time when we’re dealing with a serious public health crisis,” Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said.

“We're investigating reports of suspicious activity on our platform and taking action on any accounts that we find to be in violation of our policies,” a Facebook spokesperson told CNN Philippines yesterday.

Given the infamous factories of pro-government trolls, this is certainly a thread I will be interested in continuing to monitor in the next little bit.