Lady lawmaker denies co-authoring anti-terror bill

By Joseph B.A. Marzan

Iloilo City Lone District Representative Julienne “Jam” Baronda on Wednesday denied co-authoring House Bill (HB) No. 6875, otherwise known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill.

The bill was passed into law by the House of Representatives Wednesday evening with 173 lawmakers voting in support of the measure that seeks to amend the Human Security Act of 2007.

Only 31 lawmakers voted against while 29 abstained.

In a phone interview, Baronda said she was surprised at the request for interviews she was getting because of the information.

“Maybe in the multitude of bills that were being deliberated [in the House of Representatives], I’m not actually part of the co-authors. Maybe this was misunderstood by the [House Committee on Rules]. Maybe this was a typographical error. I never said I would co-author,” Baronda said.

The lady solon said she never signed on for the bill.

“I never stated my intention to co-author, I never requested to be included, and I never signed anything. Normally when we want to co-author, we sign a document that says we intend to do so, but I didn’t. I will clarify this with the Committee Secretary for this to be threshed out,” she said.

She said her office has already sent a letter to the House Committees on Rules and Public Order and Safety to remove her name from the bill.

President Rodrigo Duterte certified the Bill as urgent on June 1.

The House has recently been under fire after adopting the Senate version of the bill (Senate Bill No. 1083) which was passed on February 26.

 

SUPPORT

Baronda’s Ilonggo colleagues in the lower house, Michael Gorriceta (Iloilo, 2^nd district) and Raul “Boboy” Tupas (Iloilo, 5^th district), also expressed their stand on the bill.

Gorriceta said he asked the House Secretary General Jose Luis Montales to remove his name as a principal author of the controversial bill.

Gorriceta earlier affirmed his co-authorship of the bill, saying it was normal for members who voted yes in the committee level to be included in the list of co-authors.

He added that his vote for the bill was in support of Tupas, who was the chairperson of the House Committee on National Defense and Security.

“It’s a normal procedure for us in the House that if you vote yes, your name can be moved to be written as a co-author. I also did it because for me, it’s for prevention, and at the same time, it was also to support Congressman Tupas, who is our committee chair,” Gorriceta said.

He also defended his affirmative vote for the bill, saying that his target were terrorists.

“I already requested the Secretary-General to remove my name as principal author of the bill. I voted yes but with reservation. My concern is with the terrorists but I also want to make sure that no rights will be violated and abused,” Gorriceta said.

He emphasized that his vote was solely focused on getting rid of terrorists although he had his own contentions.

Gorriceta did not specify when asked if which parts of the bill he felt were off, but he assured that he will discuss his reservations at the proper forum.

“The salient points of the bill are clear, and for me, again, I’m focused on the prevention part of this bill which is why I supported it. If there is any opposition to it, they can state it, and I will also state my contentions,” he said.

 

URGENCY

Tupas, on the other hand, explained his support of the bill and its urgency.

Tupas said that the current law, Republic Act No. 9372 (Human Security Act of 2007) was already considered a “dead-letter law”.

“The current one that we have, the Human Security Act, was already considered as a dead-letter law, meaning it’s already unenforceable. It puts many limitations on what the government can do to stop terrorists,” Tupas said.

He said that the new bill will only go after terrorists who are on the United Nations watch list and will not solely rely on intelligence information of the Philippines.

The bill proposes the creation of the Anti-Terrorism Council composed of Cabinet agencies, law enforcement agencies and the military.

“With this bill, we will only go after terrorists who are on the lists of international organizations, like the United Nations, and others. But if the list was provided by our own law enforcement, like our proposed Anti-Terrorism Council and law enforcement agencies, then we will make sure that the list jives with that of the UN and other international bodies,” he said.

Tupas also addressed claims that the bill might be used to silence government critics, saying that it will continue to respect civil and political rights.

“I’d like to clarify this that everyone can still criticize the government even after the passage of this law. As I’ve said, we’re relying on international lists as well. Exercising civil and political rights are expressly excluded from acts that are punishable under this bill. We also already have an Anti-Torture Law which prevents our law enforcement from imposing harsh punishment on people who are under custodial investigation,” he said.

As regards the bill’s urgency, Tupas explained that this was an international observation echoed by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno.

“The Financial Action Task Force noted last year that the Philippines has one of the weakest anti-terrorism laws, and they gave us 12 months, or until October of this year, to pass this legislation, which has been already stuck in the lower house for seven years,” he said.

He added that the new measure will enable the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the assets of terrorists.