Security officials want ‘more teeth’ for military, police to combat terrorism

Give security forces more teeth to fight terrorism so the government would not have to impose martial law, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana urged lawmakers on Monday.

At a Senate hearing on various bills amending the 11-year-old Human Security Act, Lorenzana reiterated that martial law imposition should be the last option of the government.

The defense chief recalled telling lawmakers at the House of Representatives that there is a need for Congress to craft a law that will address terrorism, citing as example the “very strict” laws being used by other countries like Australia.

“So that sabi ko hindi natin gagamitin ang martial law kung meron tayong magagamit, bigyan natin ng konting teeth ‘yung ating security agencies,” Lorenzana said.

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. echoed Lorenzana’s sentiments as he stressed the need for more stringent measures to combat terrorism in the country.

Esperon also noted that by “mere suspicion” in Australia, suspects could be detained for as long as seven days or more.

“In our country, I don’t know how this came about that if for our own martial law, we could only detain suspects in three days,” he said.

“And I don’t know why instead of giving the enforcers or the law enforces some more leeway or capabilities; I don’t know why the Human Security Act could penalize us for mistakes that we could probably commit at the high rate of P500,000 a day.”

“And considering that my base-pay then as an officer was something like P60,000, who would give me P440,000 so that I could commit a mistake for one day?,” he added.

General Carlito Galvez, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, also lamented how a suspected bomber would be released because of what he described as “very permissive” anti-terror law in the country.

“The law does not really help the security forces to really do their job,” he noted.

In some countries, Galvez said, suspects could be detained for 12 months or more on “mere suspicion.”

Asked by Senator Panfilo Lacson, who is presiding over the hearing as chairman of the Senate committee on public order, how much do they need to detain a suspected terrorist, security officials proposed a 30-day detention.

At present, a suspect can only be detained for 36-hours or three days as provided for under the Revised Penal Code.

Interior Secretary Eduardo Año explained that a 30-day period is enough time for security forces to conduct all “intensive investigation to follow up operations and do counter actions.”

At the start of the hearing, Lacson has already indicated the committee’s inclination to accept the proposal of the security officials.

In the same breath, Director General Alex Paul Monteagudo, of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency NICA, also agreed that the Philippines has the weakest anti-terrorism law in the region.

“While in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, which are much less affected by terrorism, the Philippines, which is the most affected country in the region, has the weakest law and it’s now one of the reasons why we’re attracting foreign terrorist fighters from other countries…” the NICA head pointed out.  /kga