The designation of persons as “terrorists” is not new in the country, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said on Friday, May 14.
“It’s actually provided for under the Anti-Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (Republic Act No. 10168) which has been in place, I understand, since 2012,” DOJ Undersecretary Adrian Ferdinand S. Sugay said.
In an interview over ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC), Sugay said that terrorist designation is “a preventive measure” for the purpose of “freezing assets for a period of 20 days on the part of the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council).”
“Designation is deemed for purposes of freezing of assets. A person may only be arrested for violation of the Anti-Terror Act when he is caught in flagrante delicto (in the act) or if a criminal complaint has been filed against him for violations anywhere from Sections 3 to 12 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA),” he explained.
Sugay was interviewed after the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) published the names of 29 persons who have been designated as “terrorists” in accordance with the provisions of ATA under RA 11479.
Sugay believes that Congress placed the terrorist designation provision in ATA “in order to prevent the terroristic activities or the financing of terrorist activities... and to just give the proposed designee the opportunity to question it.”
Amidst claims that some of those in the list were unfairly designated as “terrorists,” Sugay cited that, under ATA, persons can ask the ATC to have their names removed from the list.
“You can actually file under the rules a verified petition for delisting that can be filed with the ATC. It’s a request for delisting,” Sugay explained.
“The designee may also go to court to question it,” he stressed.
On top of these legal recourses, he assured that safeguards are in place under ATA that no person can be improperly designated as terrorists as “there is a process under the law.”
He explained that under the mechanism, intelligence information is submitted to a technical working group (TWG) -- composed of three members from the DOJ, AMLC, and the National Security Council (NSC) -- which makes the evaluation before submitting its recommendations to the ATC.
“It is really up to the council to approve or adopt the recommendations,” he said.
He pointed out that the ATC is an inter-agency council with many members. “We would like to think that these members, particularly the Cabinet secretaries, will want to really ensure that all information are really verified and validated before they make any resolution for designation,” he said.
He expressed his trust and confidence that the Supreme Court (SC) will be able to determine if there is a lack of safeguards under the law once it resolves the 37 petitions seeking to declare ATA as unconstitutional.