Being designated as terrorists by the government does not mean that members of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), will be arrested, the Department of Justice (DoJ) assured  Monday.

“There will be no arrests. No detention in the coming days,” said DoJ Undersecretary Adrian Sugay during an interview over ANC.

The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) has come out with resolution designating a number of organizations as terrorists, including the CPP-NPA.

The Justice Undersecretary explained that once a group has been designated as a 

terrorist, its assets can be frozen by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

“When you talk about group or individual being designated, it is that group’s assets or funds that are subject of freeze order issued by AMLC,” he said, citing the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 11479, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.

The Justice Undersecretary admitted that the ATC has not released a list of which bank accounts of the CPP-NPA should be frozen.

“At this point there is no such list. The ATC has not issued such list and to my knowledge there is none,” Sugay said. 

“It will be up to the banks and the covered institutions to go through their process or their protocol for determining such related accounts in coordination with the AMLC,” he said.

Sugay assured that “the AMLC will work closely with the ATC on this matter.”