Dark reality

By Artchil B. Fernandez

Filipinos face a dark reality in the post-lockdown scenario. A glimpse of this dark life was shown to the nation when Metro Manila’s quarantine status was downgraded to General Community Quarantine (GCQ) beginning this week. Based on what unfolded, Filipinos have reason to be scared and fearful of the future.

Under GCQ, 30 to 50 percent of the workforce of companies and factories can report in the metropolis. The slow opening of Metro Manila is characterized by chaos, travel miseries, and confusion – a commuter crisis. Thousands were forced to walk for hours to get to their working places with transportation limited some buses and reduced capacity (30%) of metro trains. Physical distancing disappeared as people crowded to trucks and vehicles offering free rides.

The scenario is scary. Allowing movement of people again did not mean the COVID-19 pandemic is already over. The virus is very much around and the reason for downgrading the quarantine status is to resuscitate the stagnant economy. Given what is happening in the revival of the economy, a spike of new infections is likely. A surge of the pandemic (second wave) is real with people crowding again.

Anarchy and disorder in the first week of GCQ in Metro Manila reveal the incompetence and ineptness of the Du30 administration. Had it spent the nearly three months of lockdown painstakingly planning how to re-open the economy, the pandemonium this week would have been avoided and only fine-tuning problems would have occurred. This is what happens when the leadership of the land is lazy.

The Du30 administration knows that it does not have a plan, strategy, or program on how to handle the post-lockdown life. It miserably failed to take advantage of the 80-day lockdown to come up with a comprehensive approach to deal with COVID-19, revive the economy, and deal with a host of problems produced by the pandemic.

To cover-up his incompetence, Du30 once again turns to the only answer he knows to solve problems – force. This explains why suddenly he certified as urgent the passage of 2020 Anti-Terrorism bill as Congress is about to adjourn sine die. The Senate version of the bill, SB 1083 was approved last February and the House simply adopted the Senate version as HB 6875. The bill which amends the Human Security Act of 2007 now awaits the signature of Du30. The bill is as good as a law.

The new Anti-Terrorism Law gives the government broad powers to deal with terrorism bypassing even the courts. The law penalizes those who propose, incite, conspire, participate in the planning, training, preparation, and facilitation of a terrorist act. Those who also provide material support to terrorists, as well as recruit members in terrorist organizations, are heavily penalized.

Section 29 of the law allows authorities to arrest suspected terrorists without a warrant and detain them for 14 days with a 10-day extension. This provision alone of the law violates the Bill of Rights of the Constitution which declares that no one should be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of law. It also violates Article VII, Section 18 which states that arrested persons even with the suspension of the privilege of writ should be judicially charged within three days, otherwise shall be released.

The law under sections 45 and 46 vests enormous power to Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) composed mainly of Cabinet secretaries, and whose secretariat is the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency. Instead of a judge or a court, it is ATC that issues the order to take into custody a suspected terrorist.

Arresting without a warrant and detaining a suspected terrorist for as long as 24 days is the most dangerous portion of the law. Authorities can easily abuse this power since they are allowed to pick up anyone they suspect as a terrorist. The war on drugs has already shown what authorities can do on suspects. Thousands of suspected drug addicts and pushers were slaughtered without due process. The same thing will likely happen to those authorities suspect as terrorists.

Why did the administration suddenly give top priority to pass the 2020 anti-terrorism law instead of crafting measures on how the country survives the COVID-19 pandemic? The Anti-Terrorism Law is its likely answer to the dark reality confronting the nation in the post-lockdown life. Without a comprehensive plan on how the country can recover from the pandemic, the Du30 administration knows well that its laziness and incompetence will breed dissent and discontent.

Transportation chaos in Metro Manila is just the beginning of the hard life facing Filipinos in the months and years ahead. The economic meltdown is imminent as businesses and industries (those lucky to avoid collapse) struggle to survive. The COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and without a comprehensive national strategy on how to combat the virus, a spike in deaths is expected. Given its failure to prepare to the nation for what is to come after lifting the longest lockdown in the world, the Du30 administration expects intensification of dissent and widespread opposition to its ineptness and incompetence.

Du30 is readying his response to the growing and widening dissatisfaction and discontent with his incompetent and bungling leadership – the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2020. Unable to handle the most serious crisis facing the country in decades, Du30 will once again resort to threat and intimidation, force, and violence. He will definitely use the new Anti-Terrorism Law not only to cover-up the failings of his leadership but to crack down hard on critics and dissent.

A dark reality and gloomy life await Filipinos in the post-lockdown scene while COVID-19 continues to ravage the nation. Prepare for a hard and harsh life.