GOVERNANCE MATTERS
Ever since the government placed Metro Manila and major urban centers under a lockdown, our people have been living in a state of constant fear. The fear is real, not existential. It is brought on by economic uncertainties and the day-to-day ordeal of surviving the pandemic.
Millions have been rendered jobless, and those who do have jobs worry about being infected at their workplaces or while commuting in cramped public utility vehicles. But they have no choice. Companies and businesses have collapsed or are struggling to stay afloat. Businessmen fear that government is doing too little too late to revive the sputtering economy. Not even the early advent of Christmas in our shores could lift the grim and fearful mood we share collectively.
But there is another kind of fear in the air, stoked by the administration’s use of the pandemic to tighten its grip on citizens. If allowed to proceed at its current course, these nefarious designs would have far-reaching consequences. It could reshape, even mangle, our democracy and pave the way for future national leaderships armed with powers that institutionalize the curtailment of certain rights like due process and freedom of expression, and legitimize draconian measures against citizens.
A broad coalition has evolved informally over opposition to the newly passed Anti-Terror Law. But the “terror” did not start with that law. Even before it was approved by Congress with obscene haste, the administration has been using an iron hand on its people, ostensibly to enforce the lockdown. We saw tanks rolling through the streets and heavily armed policemen in combat uniform manning checkpoints and doing patrols. We read or saw news reports of beatings, maulings and shootings, illegal arrests, and the inhumane treatment of curfew violators. For those of us who are old enough, these repressive actions bring up disturbing memories of martial law.
Ordinary citizens who took to social media to rail against government’s incompetence, inefficiency, and dictatorial streak have been summoned or arrested on grounds that range from defamation, rumor mongering, sedition, and spreading false information or fake news. The last one is laughable, considering that several government personalities and supporters are not above committing these acts. Thankfully, these cases have been dismissed by the courts for being baseless. Law enforcers have been admonished for arresting citizens illegally and depriving them of their rights.
Police have dealt with protesters harshly, often detaining them for days in cramped jails - virtual breeding grounds for the coronavirus - then releasing them without filing charges. On the other hand, those who were charged were ordered released by inquest fiscals and the cases marked “for further investigation.” True enough some protesters claimed they got infected while in detention. This is another manner by which fear of the coronavirus is being used by authorities - with obvious and deliberate malice as a tool to silence critics.
Then there are the killings. In July, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) reported receiving 55 complaints for alleged extrajudicial killings during the lockdown. These are, by all accounts, drug-related killings that have “slowed down” but persist. Recently, activists and personalities linked to known militant groups have been killed near or in their homes by armed assailants who manage to move around freely despite the checkpoints and the government-imposed curfew. While ordinary citizens remain in their homes especially at night, these assassins act with impunity, with the lockdown serving to facilitate murder.
With the people in fear and preoccupied with survival, it appears to some observers that the administration is aggressively pursuing an agenda of eroding certain rights enshrined in the Constitution. The pandemic has provided a convenient argument to extend emergency powers to the executive and fast-track the approval of controversial measures such as the Anti-Terror Law that would have been met with massive street protests during normal times.
What worries many is that these questionable measures would outlive the pandemic that spawned them, becoming an integral part of our norms and laws over time. This is perhaps one of our greatest challenges: to ensure that our rights and liberties remain intact and protected in the midst of the pandemic. The cost of flagging vigilance would be enormous, as future generations might find themselves living in a society where the Constitution offers neither solace nor protection to the aggrieved.