DILG says Anti-Terrorism Law will not be used for oppression, abuse

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) gave assurance the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 will not be used for oppression and abuse, as the agency thanked President Rodrigo Duterte for signing it into law.

"The entire DILG family, including our attached agencies – National Police Commission, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Philippine Public Safety College, Local Government Academy, Philippine Commission on Women, National Youth Commission, and the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos — would like to thank the 18th Congress and President Rodrigo Duterte for signing the Anti-Terror Bill into law yesterday," DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said in a statement on Saturday.

The DILG as well thanked the senators and members of the House of Representatives who "placed the interest of the nation first," and local government officials who supported the passage of the law.

The agency said the law will now give law-enforcing bodies the "upper hand" against communist terrorists and violent extremists committing terror attacks in the country, as well as protect the Filipino people.

"We assure the Filipino people that this law will never be a tool for oppression nor will it curtail the freedom of speech as it has safeguards against human rights violations and abuses on the part of law enforcers," Año said.

"The DILG will not allow this law to be abused and it will be used judiciously only for the purpose for which it was enacted — defeat the communist terrorists and violent extremists once and for all. We repeat that only the terrorists should fear this law and all law-abiding and peaceful citizens have nothing to fear," he added.

The anti-terror bill, now a law, had drawn opposition from activists, human rights workers, members of the academe, journalists business groups, among others, as they feared authorities may use it to have a crackdown on government critics or tag exercise of rights as an act of terrorism with no accountability. —Jamil Santos/KG, GMA News