The Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Wednesday, Oct. 21, there is a need for law enforcement agencies to undergo seminars regarding the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Anti-TerrorismAct (ATA).
“I think this has to be made very clear to them, yung provisions ng batas na ito (the provisions of this law),” said DOJ Undersecretary Adrian Sugay.
He pointed out that this will prevent those from law enforcement agencies from misinterpreting the controversial law.
“Baka iba yung interpretation ng iba (It might be misinterpreted by the others). We just really have to make sure,” Sugay said.
The Anti-Terrorism Act’s IRR was published over the weekend after the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) approved the draft crafted by the DOJ with inputs from the Philippine National Police (AFP) and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Sugay said the DOJ team that crafted the IRR have a clear idea on what terrorism is under the law.
“We have a very clear concept of what a terrorist is and I would like to hope that we can disseminate this concept to law enforcement agencies, and to whoever will be implementing this,” he said.
Under Republic Act 11479, also known as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, law enforcement may detain for 14 to 24 days without charges being filed in court those arrested without warrant for violating the law.
However, the IRR states that law enforcement will have to seek authority from the ATC to hold those arrested for 14 to 24 days for the conduct of further investigation or to prevent the commission of a terrorism.
Otherwise, law enforcement authorities will have to abide by the provisions of the Revised Penal Code (RPC) which require that those arrested without warrant be charged in court within 36 hours at most.