Why we can’t believe platitudes proffered for new anti-terror law
Why we can’t believe platitudes proffered for new anti-terror law
By Inday Espina-Varona
When President Rodrigo Duterte and his apologists tut-tut and sneer that only terrorists need to fear the proposed new anti-terror law, the easiest answer is “Drug War.”
Close to 6,000 have died in police operations over the last four years. Triple that number have died in the hands of unknown assailants, whom then national police chief Ronald dela Rosa implied were doing the government a favor.
“Kung gusto man nilang gawin, gawin na lang nila, ‘wag na lang nilang ipaalam sa akin,” he told ABS-CBN News in 2016.
The total absence of due process, state efforts to block probes, the intimidation of families seeking justice, and Duterte’s repeated pledges to protect police from accountability highlight the four-year program against suspected drug users and dealers.
There is little reason to believe the planned program against “terrorists” will be any different.
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