MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte is supportive of the controversial provision in the Anti-Terrorism Bill where suspected terrorists could be detained for 14 days without charge.
Duterte’s spokesperson Harry Roque said this in a television interview on Wednesday, saying the provision in the pending bill does not violate the Constitution.
In the existing Revised Penal Code, it allows the 36-hour pre-trial detention of terror suspects to prevent evasion and destruction of evidence.
“As a [former] trial fiscal, there’s one issue that he has no problems with: that is pre-trial detention,” the Palace spokesperson said in an interview with the ABS-CBN News Channel.
“He does not feel that the 14-day period is actually a violation of the constitutional provision that a warrant of arrest can only be issued by a judge because the law does not change that constitutional rule,” he added.
Under the proposed measure, the Anti-Terror Council (ATC) could order the arrest of a suspected terrorist and his detention for 14 days, extendable by another 10 days, without so much as a charge filed against him.
“After the pre-trial detention of 14 days, extended for another 10 days, and notice has to be given to the nearest judge, it is the court that will issue the warrant of arrest for the purpose of actually arresting him or for the purpose of the court acquiring jurisdiction over the person of the accused,” Roque said.
The measure, which is up for Duterte’s signature, will also let the government wiretap suspects and arrest them without warrant, among others provisions.
Several groups have opposed the provision of extended pre-trial detention under the anti-terror bill, with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines saying it is “exclusively a judicial power” under the 1987 Constitution./PN
