PH military welcomes anti-terror IRR, says it was ‘timely’
MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Thursday welcomed the “timely approval” of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
AFP spokesperson Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said the IRR, which detailed provisions on terrorism and crimes related to it, “will surely capacitate and empower the AFP to run after, assist in the arrest and prosecution, and secure our country and people against terrorist organizations, associations, groups, individuals, proponents, and supporters.”
Sen. Panfilo Lacson, author of the law, earlier said that the arrest of a suspected Indonesian suicide bomber in Sulu last Oct. 10 could serve as a test case for the newly signed law, specifically on the provision penalizing “inchoate offenses.”
Arevalo said that the military was “optimistic” that the law and its IRR will be an “effective deterrence to terrorists.”
“It should be terrorists and abettors and not law-abiding citizens who should be spooked by the passage of the law and the approval of the corresponding IRR,” he said.
The widely-criticized anti-terror law took effect on July 18 after being signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last July 3.
