By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz & Rene Acosta
A party-list lawmaker is pushing for the passage of a bill that would toughen the country’s anti-terrorism law on the heels of a recent suicide-bombing incident of an Army camp in Sulu involving a Filipino.
In filing House Bill 2082, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said the incident might be the beginning of similar attacks in the future.
Nograles said that the incident last June 28 where a Filipino named Norman Lasuca was identified as one of the two suicide bombers that attacked an Army command post in Indanan, Sulu, is a grim indication that foreign terrorists have already spread their violent ideology to local Islamic insurgents.
Nograles, who served as a caretaker congressman of Sulu province, said that government security authorities should also look at the possibility that Sulu province might have become a training ground for Filipino suicide bombers.
The bill seeks to amend Republic Act 9272, or the Human Securities Act of 2007, to “make it rational, balanced, realistic and truly effective in the fight against terrorism.”
The bill provides a clearer definition of key concepts, including what “terrorist acts” are punishable.
It also allows for a graduation of penalties based on an offender’s participation and penalizes “inciting to commit terrorist acts.”
The bill also defines and penalizes “foreign terrorism” and “foreign terrorist” and imposes the penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office to offenders.
HB 2082 also provides greater powers to the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), especially over telecommunications and Internet service providers.
It also mandates the creation of focus programs on countering violent extremism, counterterrorism operational readiness, legal affairs, anti-terror financing and international affair.
The bill also empowers the ATC to take measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
The measure also mandates the ATC investigate motu propio reports of abuse, malicious application and improper implementation of the law.
“The passage of the HSA in 2007 was intended to provide a legal framework that would allow the Philippines’s criminal justice system and institutions to prevent counterterrorism,” Nograles said.
Unfortunately, he said 12 years after its passage, the HSA has provided little to nil contribution in the fight against terrorism.
“To this date, there have only been two cases where the HSA has been applied. First was in the 2008 case of Jun Guevarra where the accused plea bargained and in the proscription of the Abu Sayyaf Group [ASG] as a Terrorist Organization in 2015,” Nograles said.
“The vagueness of the definition of the crime of terrorism, the almost absurd provisions for awards of damages, and the unreasonably restrictive measures which negate the very intent of the HSA are but a few of the reasons raised why the law has become inutile,” he added.
Mindanao offensive
IN Mindanao, meanwhile, nine members of the ASG and two supporters of the Dawlah Islamiyah (DI) yielded to government troops in Mindanao, amid an intensified counterterrorism operations in the provinces of Sulu, Basilan and Lanao del Sur.
Lt. Col. Gerald Monfort, spokesman of the military’s Joint Task Force Sulu, said the nine ASG members surrendered to the Army’s 2nd Special Forces Battalion as a result of ongoing operations against the terrorist group in the province.
The operations were principally directed against the group of Hadjan Sawadjaan, the group blamed behind the suicide-bombing incident on a military camp in Indanan, Sulu, on June 28, which was perpetrated by two men, one of them a Filipino.
The bombing killed seven people and wounded 22 others.
Monfort said the suspects, whom he did not identify, turned over two M-16 rifles, five Garand rifles and two .45 caliber pistols.
Brig. Gen. Corleto Vinluan Jr., commander of the task force, promised not only to hunt those responsible behind the bombing of the camp of the 1st Brigade Combat Team in the town of Indanan, but all of the ASG members in Sulu.
In Lanao del Sur, two DI supporters also surrendered to the 55thInfantry Battalion at Barangay Matitikop, Tubaran, Lanao del Sur, according to Maj. Clint Antipala, spokesman of the 1st Infantry Division.
“The two surrenderors revealed that they’ve provided logistical support to the group of Owayda Marohombsar, also known as Abu Dar, before he was neutralized in the neighboring barangay,” Antipala quoted Lt. Col. Ian Noel Ignes, 55th IB commander, as saying.
Abu Dar, leader of the DI in Lanao del Sur, and three of his men were killed on March 14 in an encounter with soldiers in Barangay Dinaigan, Tubaran.
Antipala said the two DI supporters yielded two .45 caliber pistols. Their surrender was facilitated by Mayor Khaledyassin Papandayan of Tubaran.
“The death of top DI-Lanao leaders and Maute Brothers and the surrender of their members have significantly contributed to the sustained peaceful environment in the province of Lanao del Sur,” said Brig. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., 103rd Infantry Brigade commander, who has operational jurisdiction of Lanao del Sur.
“We continuously collaborate with local chief executives and other stakeholders to encourage other supporters or even the locals with loose firearms to surrender and submit themselves to the fold of the law in order to stop the criminalities and attain a more peaceful community,” he added.