LEST WE get the self-appointed guardians of morality squirming in their knickers, “my ass” here refers to: an animal belonging to the horse family, which is typically smaller than a horse and has longer ears and a braying call a.k.a. “donkey”. And not necessarily my derriere. Simply put, it’s just a figure of speech.
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Defenders Protection Act or House Bill 10576 is a bill that seeks to protect and define the rights and freedoms of human rights defenders in the Philippines.
The bill spells out 17 “rights and freedoms” to be enjoyed by human rights defenders, once passed into law. These include the freedom from intimidation and reprisal on the grounds of their work and also the right to communicate with organizations, including international and regional bodies.
The bill also highlighted State obligations, adding that “public authorities shall take all necessary measures to ensure” that the rights and freedoms of defenders are guaranteed and protected, and that they work in “safe and enabling environments without restrictions”.
The bill also seeks to establish a Human Rights Defenders Protection Committee, an “independent collegial body” composed of members nominated by civil society organizations and appointed by the Commission on Human Rights.
At first glance, HB10576 looks idealistic and very noble. But looks can be deceiving. Taking a second look, one notices that the very proponents of this bill are also the ones who are vehemently opposed to the passage of Republic Act 11479 or The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
The usual suspects are the front organizations of the Communist Party of the Philippines / New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) taking advantage of the party-list system in Congress, aptly called KABAG – an acronym for Kabataan, Anakpawis, Bayan Muna, Alliance of Concerned Teachers, and Gabriela.
The principal authors of HB10576 are Albay 1st District representative Edsel Lagman whose ties with the CPP/NPA/NDFP need no introduction, and Quezon City 6th district representative Kit Belmonte who’s either a “useful idiot” or just trying to be cute, of course ably supported by KABAG.
And the ulterior motive for this HB10576 is quite obvious, RA 11479 plus the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) are the “one-two” punch of the Duterte administration in eliminating the threats of terrorism and ending the decades-long insurgency problem.
Obviously, the Anti-Terrorism Law and the NTF-ELCAC are very effective otherwise these folks won’t come up with this Human Rights Defenders Protection Act because if it becomes law it will also effectively render the Anti-Terrorism Law inutile. So tell me who wants to have an inutile Anti-Terrorism Law except the terrorists and their supporters.
Isn’t that clever using government resources to undermine the government? (To be continued) (brotherlouie16@gmail.com)/PN
