By Mario B. Casayuran Senator Panfilo M. Lacson on Thursday moved to counter ‘’massive disinformation’’ against his Anti-Terror Bill by saying it is meant to protect the Filipino people as terrorism knows no timing or borders. Senator Panfilo Lacson
(Senate of the Philippines / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN) ‘’To the critics, I dare say: I hope the day will not come when you or any of your loved ones will be at the receiving end of a terrorist attack, so much so that it will be too late for you to regret convincing the Filipino people to junk this landmark legislation,’’ Lacson, chairman of the Senate national defense and security committee, said. ‘’Some of our country’s policy-makers, especially our people, should know better than just criticizing and believing the massive disinformation campaign against a measure that can secure and protect us as well as our families and loved ones from terrorist acts perpetrated in a manner so sudden, least expected and indiscriminate - as in anytime, probably even today, tomorrow or next week,’’ he added. Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III supported Lacson by hitting back at critics of the anti-terror bill, which received massive backlash online since it was certified as urgent by President Duterte. Opposition Senators Risa Hontiveros and Francis N. Pangilinan questioned the “misplaced” priority in asking the anti-terror bill to be passed urgently. Hontiveros and Pangilinan voted against the bill citing possible abuses once enacted into law. Lacson stressed that he was always mindful of the Bill of Rights enshrined in the 1987 Constitution when he conducted the public hearings and sponsored the bill on the Senate floor last year up to February where it was approved on third and final reading. ‘’That said, I incorporated most of the provisions of the Anti-Terrorism laws of other strong democracies like Australia and the United States, further guided by the standards set by the United Nations, save for the reglamentary period of detention in which we adopted the shortest time of 14 days - compared to Thailand with up to 30 days; Malaysia, up to two years; Singapore at 720 days extendible to an indefinite period of detention without formal charges; and Indonesia, up to 120 additional days. Also, safeguards have been put in place to ensure the rights of those detained,’’ Lacson explained. ‘’With the help of many of my colleagues who (conducted) interpellation and proposed their individual amendments, including all the members of the minority bloc, I was more than accommodating to accept their amendments as long as we would not end up with another dead-letter law such as the Human Security Act of 2007, which has so far resulted in just one conviction after more than a decade of its implementation and just one proscribed terrorist organization such as the Abu Sayyaf Group,’’ he added.