By Hannah Torregoza Voting 19-2-0, the Senate approved on third and final reading a bill providing a tougher policy against terrorism. The senators approved Senate Bill No. 1083 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which seeks to repeal the Human Security Act of 2007. Senate of the Philippines (MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO) Opposition senators Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan were the only senators who voted against the measure. Provisions of the bill Under the measure, it shall be unlawful for any person to participate in the planning, training, preparation, and facilitation of the commission of terrorism, possessing objects connected with the preparation for the commission of terrorism, or collecting or making documents connected with the preparation of terrorism. Any person found guilty of the provisions of the proposed law shall suffer the penalty of life imprisonment without the benefit of parole and the benefits of Republic Act No. 10592 or the Revised Penal Code. The measure also provides stringent penalties against those who will propose, incite, conspire, or participate in the planning, training, preparation, and facilitation of a terrorist act as well as those who will finance or provide material support to terrorists and recruit members to a terrorist group. Likewise, the bill will hold liable any person who has knowledge of a commission of a terrorist act, despite having no direct participation therein, but profited or assisted the offender by concealing or destroying the body of the crime, or by harboring, concealing, or assisting in the escape of the principal or conspirator of the crime. The said person shall be held liable as an accessory and shall suffer a penalty of imprisonment for 12 years. If the offender is a public official, he/she shall be charged with the administrative offense of grave misconduct and/or disloyalty to the Republic of the Philippines and the Filipino people. The public official will also be meted the penalty of dismissal from the service, with the accessory penalties of cancellation of civil service eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits, and perpetual absolute disqualification from running for any elective office or holding any public office. Pangilinan’s arguments against In voting against the measure, Pangilinan expressed his fears the proposed law would be abused by the current Duterte administration, as it will, among others, “allow law enforcers or military personnel to place individuals and organizations under surveillance; compel telecommunication companies (telcos) to divulge their calls and messages; arrest these people without warrant; and detain them for an extended period of 14 days.” “Certain questions now come to mind: Can the law be used against democratic opposition leaders? Can opposition political parties be outlawed and tagged as terrorist organizations? Some may say this is far-fetched and most certainly some will say this is not the intent of the law,” Pangilinan said. Citing the case of Sen. Leila de Lima, Pangilinan said an administration that has jailed an incumbent senator on a case whose key witnesses are convicted drug lords, that has repeatedly warned about imposing martial law all over the country, that has, in fact, imposed martial law in Mindanao “under what we continue to believe to be questionable constitutional grounds” are instances that “are more than simply déjà vu, they are more like foreboding.” “The amendments…are worrisome and could make the Human Security Act an even worse tool for repression, instead of an instrument for thwarting terrorists,” he said. “Laws must be rights-based and must allow civil and political rights to flourish. Without respect for rights, there can never be security.”