Should former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV win in the 2022 senatorial race, his first priorities would be to amend the controversial anti-terror bill that has become a way for key government officials to red-tag activists and critics and to start an anti-corruption body that will oversee the executive branch.

During an online interview, the former Navy officer explained why he has always been against the Anti-Terror Law (ATL) even when he was still a senator with its principal author, Senator Panfilo Lacson.

“I am against the practice of red-tagging. We will have to discourage that. Babaguhin natin ang kultura (We will change the culture). The AFP and even the PNP, they should just focus on the armed insurgents. Iba iyong armed regulars, iba iyong mga aktibista (Armed regulars are different from activists),” Trillanes said.

“Iyong mga aktibista, iyan kasama iyan sa (The activists, that’s included in the) democratic space na pino-provide ng ating lipunan para maglabas sila ng mga hinaing. Iyan ang boses ng mga maralita at iyong mga (the society is providing for them to voice out their concerns. That is the voice of the poor and the) disadvantaged sectors,” he added.

The ATL has been used by the government’s anti-insurgency task force, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), to red-tag celebrities, activists, and critics.

At one point, this has been used to criticize community pantry organizers for supposedly being members of communist groups.

READ: Red-tagging forces Maginhawa Community Pantry to stop operation

If he wins a seat in Senate, Trillanes specified that he will amend the law by removing the provisions that gives full power to the anti-terror council to designate who are terrorists without judicial processes.

He also wants to remove the provisions that allows the anti-terror council to issue a warrantless arrest and detain suspected terrorists.

While all nations have an anti-terror bill, there is a need to make sure that this will not be used against innocent people.

“So, kung mapang-abuso iyong gobyerno (if the government is abusive) such as this one ay puwedeng gamitin at ginagamit nga sa mga tao (it can be used and is being used against the people),” Trillanes said.

“So, tatanggalin natin iyong mga provision para siguraduhing maproteksiyonan ang karapatan ng mga inosenteng mamamayan (we will remove the provision to make sure that the rights of the innocent people are protected),” he added.

READ: The Anti-Terrorism Law: A law against terrorists, or a terrifying law?

Meanwhile, Trillanes was also specific about how he wants to tackle the rampant corruption in the country.

He wants to start an anti-corruption body in the executive branch, which is one of the practices of progressive nations such as Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong in addressing corruption in government.

But for this to be effective, the former senator said that the executives have to be well-compensated so they can afford a “decent life” according to their qualifications.

This will also prevent them from engaging in corrupt activities.

Another step that Trillanes is pushing for is to make it “mandatory” to have a video recording livestreaming of all public biddings, so these can be used as evidence by the Commission on Audit (COA), Office of the Ombudsman, and Sandiganbayan.

“Alam niyo kasi, mahirap gumawa ng krimen kung ikaw ay nire-record (You know, it’s difficult to do a crime if you are being recorded),” Trillanes said.