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EDITORIAL
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February 8, 2018
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THE House of Representatives, voting 212-55, approved House Bill (HB) No. 6834 on its third and final reading on Feb. 6, 2018. The said bill is set to replace Batas Pambansa (BP) 880 or the Public Assembly Act of 1985.
Under HB 6834, in lieu of securing a permit, rally organizers would need to serve a notice to the mayor, three working days before the protest. The bill will impose graver penalties of six months to six years imprisonment for rallies without notice, or those held outside the notice’s coverage.
Certainly outrageous. So now a notice is a prerequisite for the Filipino people to exercise their right to peaceably assemble?
The right to peaceably assemble is a basic right enshrined in the Philippine Constitution and international human rights instruments. It should take precedence over insidious attempts to pass another repressive legislation that will further curtail people’s rights.
It is explicitly stated in the Bill of Rights section of the Constitution that “no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or of the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances.”
Take note that BP 880 is being invoked time and again to file trumped-up charges against protest leaders and police use this as basis for illegal arrests. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out HB 6834 will be used to the same end.
It is said that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, and so we must do no less.
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