Suicide bombers among first cases to be tried under anti-terror law, Gapay says

There are already cases being subjected to the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, Armed Forces chief General Gilbert Gapay said Tuesday.

"As implementor of the new anti-terror law and in fact, [the] IRR was published already by the DOJ... there are cases already being undertaken," Gapay said during a virtual presser.

"The bombings in Jolo and of course 'yung ating mga suicide bombers which we have captured recently are among the first cases which will be tried and subjected to the new anti-terror law," he added.

Gapay said these cases would "put to test" the law that was challenged by at least 37 petitions before the Supreme Court.

In October, Senator Panfilo Lacson, sponsor of the said law, mentioned that the suspected Indonesian suicide bomber who was arrested in Sulu could be a "potential test case" for the implementation of the anti-terror law.

A certain Nana Isirani alias "Rezky Fantasya Rullie" or "Cici" was nabbed in Jolo on October 10 together with two other women who are believed to be wives of Abu Sayyaf bandits.

According to Section 6 of the anti-terror law, any person found guilty of planning, training, preparing, and facilitating the commission of terrorism shall suffer the penalty of life imprisonment without parole.

President Rodrigo Duterte inked the law in July despite apprehensions from certain groups and the public. — RSJ, GMA News