SOLGEN: LAW ALREADY IN FORCE

DOJ to discuss anti-terror law implementing rules on Friday

The Department of Justice (DOJ) team will meet on Friday to discuss the implementing rules of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Thursday.

He said the DOJ team will brainstorm and identify the provisions of the law that will need implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

"We will consult with the legal team of the OP (Office of the President), as well as with the secretariat of the ATC (Anti-Terrorism Council), as we go along," he said in a message to reporters.

The law mandates the DOJ and the ATC, with the "active participation" of police and military institutions, to promulgate its IRR within 90 days after its effectivity.

Guevarra said the law took effect midnight of July 18, the 15th day after its publication in the Official Gazette's website on July 3.

Solicitor General Jose Calida, on the other hand, said the law took effect on July 22, 15 days after it was published in the print Official Gazette on July 6.

'Already in force'

In a statement Thursday, Calida said the anti-terrorism law is already in force, claiming that the promulgation of the IRR is not a condition for the effectivity of the law.

"A law is presumed to be valid when there exists an interpretation favorable to its effectivity. Unless there are clear and unmistakable showing of the law’s constitutional and statutory infirmity, the presumption of validity subsists, and the law is binding and effective," he said.

There are currently 14 petitions against the controversial law before the SC.

Calida added that the law does not have a provision prohibiting it from being implemented without an IRR, even as he acknowledged that there are provisions whose details and standards need to be spelled out in the IRR.

Save for two provisions, Sections 45 and 52, the solicitor general said the law is self-executing.

"To claim that the law is ineffective until implementing rules are promulgated creates an absurd situation where an agency can delay the effectivity of the law by delaying promulgation of its rules," he said.

"To argue that a law is less than a law, because it is made to depend on a future event or act, is to rob Congress of its plenary power to act wisely for the public welfare," he added.

Guevarra has said it is prudent to wait for the IRR before enforcing the law.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana agreed but said the law will be applied in the event of a terrorist act. — RSJ, GMA News