MANILA, Philippines -- Two senators rejected the proposal of a retired general-turned-lawmaker to revive the Anti-Subversion Law, and said that such proposal would not pass in the Senate.
?No certification as urgent by Malacañang of any proposal to revive the Anti-Subversion Law would ever make it acceptable or cause its immediate passage as hoped for by its proponent,? Senator LorenLegarda said in a statement on Friday.
?It is one thing to propose to revive a monstrosity; it is another matter to allow it to come back from the grave to haunt the Filipino people. It will not be passed by the Senate, that?s for sure,? she said.
Legarda was reacting to Bantay party-list Representative Jovito Palparan?s statement that he would pursue the revival of the law as part of his crusade against communist rebels and their front organizations.
But the senator Palapran?s proposal was ?totally out of sync with democratic ideals and the protection of civil liberties?
?[The] Anti-Subversion Law was thrown out the window precisely because it was one of the many decrees that were used in the past to stifle dissent, even those undertaken in line with the constitutionally guaranteed right of the people to free speech and redress of grievances,? the senator added.
Senator Francis Escudero said the country would be better off by rejecting Palparan?s proposal ?to salvage a Cold War relic from the dustbin of history.?
?It?s a great leap backward. We have come a long way in nurturing political pluralism by allowing beliefs espoused by all political forces to be heard in the marketplace of ideas,? he said in a separate statement.
?We cannot return to the dark days when people were punished for espousing views contrary to the established order,? he said.
Besides, Escudero said, there were other laws that punish those who seek to impose their will on the people by force of arms.
Palparan, a retired army general, represents security personnel in Congress. He has been tagged as a ?butcher? by left-wing militants over his alleged involvement in the murders and disappearances of their comrades.
