The Histrionic Security Act of 2007
I don’t know why Congress and President Macapagal-Arroyo still had to enact the Human Security Act of 2007 when the Armed Forces are already violating the Bill of Rights under existing laws. The pretext of protecting the nation against terrorists is a lame excuse. There are already the checkpoints and the warrantless arrests and the desaparecidos and the unsolved murders and other violations of human rights that are traceable to the military under its fearless “Don’t count me out” commander in chief. These are enough to assure President George W. Bush that GMA is still loyally supporting his campaign to combat international terrorism, from the hills of Pakistan to the malls in Metro Manila, with his Guantanamo Bay persuasions.The HSA is like an uncomely woman using all kinds of artifices to make her look attractive. Colored wigs, heavy makeup, padded brassieres, corsets, perfume and other beauty aids are used to cover up her innate ugliness and deceive the unsuspecting and easily impressed onlooker. So it is with the anti-terrorism law which conceals its oppressive provisions with a veneer of supposed restrictions and conditions intended to convince the people that any abuse in the implementation of its strictures shall be dealt with severely and instantly.
Stiff penalties are imposed for the commission of the crimes enumerated in its Section 3 that are already punished by the Revised Penal Code but are additionally condemned if they sow and create “a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand.” This requirement can be easily established before a court of justice influenced by the cohorts of the administration or because of the inefficacy of our procedural rules, as in habeas corpus proceedings that are helplessly disarmed where the respondent simply denies custody of the person sought.
There are many restrictions on the conduct of the law-enforcement agents seeking to defile human rights and individual liberties, like the deadlines for the filing of motions to make illegal searches and seizures, the duration of the extraordinary permission given by the Court of Appeals, the care, confidentiality and disposition of the seized materials, the examination and even freezing of bank accounts, the return of the documents improperly taken, the inadmissibility of evidence illegally obtained, the humane treatment of detained persons, the requirement for the continuous trial of alleged terrorists, and other supposed guarantees for the observance of due process.
But all this are mere blank bullets in a theatrical gun intended merely to impress the gullible with loud sound effects. Even current earlier laws already carry similar safeguards that are frequently and openly violated by overzealous or malicious law agents without incurring the prescribed disciplinary sanctions including criminal prosecution and punishment.
How many missing persons are now languishing in some military hideout if not already buried in unmarked graves? Where, to name only a few victims, are Bubby Dacer and his driver Emmanuel Corbito, who vanished years ago and are strongly presumed to have been murdered by two still unpunished officers of the national police? Where too is Jonas Burgos, whom the military denies having abducted or, worse, it may already have executed since his disappearance more than three months ago?
Will (for it can) the HSA expose and avenge these provable mysteries?
There is also that silly Section 50 of the HSA calling for the payment of damages in the amount of P500,000 to any person acquitted of the charge of terrorism “for every day that he or she has been detained or deprived of liberty or arrested without a warrant as a result of such accusation.” This must be done within 15 days from the acquittal of the accused, from some esoteric appropriation that is sure to be inadequate if not invisible. After all, the one million peso travel allowance Speaker Jose de Venecia has promised each new member of the House of Representatives must first be paid.
Under RA 7309, victims of unjust imprisonment, arbitrary detention or violent crimes may claim damages in the amount of P1,000 for every month of imprisonment, and in all other cases, the award shall not exceed P10,000 or the expenses incurred for medical treatment, loss of wages, loss of support or other expenses related to the injury, whichever is lower. This law is peanuts compared to the impossible generosity of the HSA under the exorbitant and spendthrift Arroyo government.
Let it also be especially noted, with alarm, that implementation of the HSA is under the supervision of the Anti-Terrorism Council composed of tractable Cabinet secretaries under the control of President Arroyo. And, unbelievably, the law was passed with the consent of the lucid members of the Senate, which is usually fastidious when it comes to the protection of the Constitution.
The Human Security Act is comical except that the people who enacted it are dead serious about it. We could all die laughing.
