NTF Elcac: Human rights defenders bill could make anti-terror law a ‘toothless paper tiger’
MANILA, Philippines — The anti-communist task force has slammed the Human Rights Defenders’ Protection Act, saying it will make “toothless” the anti-terrorism act and other laws.
The National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-Elcac) said the House Bill No. 77, or the Human Rights Defenders’ Protection Act “is a grave, vicious, and insidious threat against the Philippines’s democratic way of life.”
“If passed into law, HB No. 77 will make laws relating to combating terrorism, such as the Anti-Terrorism Act, Anti-Money Laundering Law as amended, and the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act, among others, as mere toothless paper tigers,” the NTF-Elcac said in a statement on Monday.
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The bill seeks to protect the following rights: right to promote and protect human rights, right to form groups, associations and organizations, right to seek and receive and disseminate Information, right to communicate with non-governmental governmental and intergovernmental organizations, right to peaceful assembly, right to freedom of movement, right to privacy and right against vilification.
Once enacted, the bill would also establish a Human Rights Defenders Protection Committee (HRDPC), which will be composed of a chairperson and six members. The chairperson would come from the Commissioners of the Commission on Human Rights.
The six members, meanwhile, will be nominated by representatives, with two each from the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates, Karapatan Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights, Free Legal Assistance Group, and the National Union of People’s Lawyers.
But the NTF-Elcac stressed that the provision of the bill that proposes for the creation of an HRDPC is an encroachment upon the jurisdiction and powers granted by the 1987 Constitution to the CHR.
The task force also claimed that the HRDPC violates the independence required since it will be composed of members from what they allege to be communist-affiliated groups and sympathizers.
“Apart from its numerous loopholes, HB No. 77 is a clear attempt to cripple the array of programs and projects being implemented by the State,” the task force further said.
