Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) turns four, human rights take turn for the worse

Statement of civil society organizations* under attack for a press conference

on the fourth anniversary of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020
July 2, 2024

Four years of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA, RA 11749) passed on July 3, 2020, along with the
related Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (TFPSA, RA 10168) have proven
that the government will abuse so-called anti-terrorism measures and use these heavy-handedly against
those it finds disagreeable. Like the Duterte administration before it, the Marcos Jr government is
attacking human rights defenders, community organizations and NGOs especially those that dare to
empower people and that challenge social, economic and political policies that benefit a few and
marginalize the many.

Government forces have baselessly vilified critics and opposition as terrorists and destabilizers since at
least the 2000s. The ATA’s Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) has been designated groups and individuals as
“terrorists” since December 2020. Bank accounts and assets of community organizations and NGOs and
personal accounts of development workers have been frozen since 2019.

To date, human rights group Karapatan has monitored at least 112 human rights defenders with criminal
complaints or charges under RA 11479 and RA 10168. Thirty-two (32) of them are detained on trumped-
up charges under these laws. Thirty-two (32) individuals have been arbitrarily designated as terrorists
without transparency or due process; this includes peace consultants, indigenous rights defenders and a
community health worker. All face threats to their lives, liberty and security, and to their rights to free
expression and freedom of association. Their ability to exercise their right to defend human rights is
curtailed, especially of those in prison.

The anti-terrorism law is being used to violate the rights of those it is supposed to protect. Activists are
charged with violations of international humanitarian law and falsely implicated in military encounters in
the country’s armed conflict. An unprecedented 37 petitions were filed at the Supreme Court questioning
the ATA’s constitutionality for violating the Bill of Rights but the law was largely upheld.

The number of made-up complaints and cases continued to increase in the first two years of the Marcos Jr
administration which raises fears of more to come. The immediate effect is on those spuriously accused
and harassed and their families. However, the broader impact is to stifle the services they give to
communities and to further degrade democracy and human rights in the country. It is alarming that laws
are being weaponized amid a worsening overall climate of militarization which is happening in the
countryside and, on a regional scale, even in the West Philippine Sea.

On May 8, 2024, the Philippine Supreme Court ruled that red-tagging, vilification, labeling, and guilt by
association constitute threats to a person’s right to life, liberty, or security. The act of terrorist red-tagging
is one such threat which has already been acknowledged by international organizations as a form of
harassment and intimidation. Labelling a person “red” often comes with surveillance and direct
harassment, and in some instances even death.

*
Na onal Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL), Karapatan, Defend NGOs Alliance, Leyte Center for Community
Development (LCDe), Community Empowerment Resource Network (CERNET), Paghida‐et sa Kauswagan
Development Group (PDG), Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP), and Ci zens' Disaster Response Center
(CDRC).
We recall the recommendations to improve the country’s human rights situation made by the last two
United Nations (UN) special rapporteurs to visit – on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom
of opinion and expression (FoOE, November 2023) and on the promotion and protection of human rights
in the context of climate change (CC, February 2024). Among the most notable are:

1. Amend the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 to align with international standards (FoOE), Revoke the
Anti-Terrorism Act and develop a truth and reconciliation process to allow people wrongly
accused to seek redress (CC)

2. Abolish the NTF-ELCAC (FoOE), disband the NTF-ELCAC (CC)

3. Full independent investigation of the NTF-ELCAC (CC)

4. An Executive Order denouncing red-tagging and disciplining violators (FoOE), legislation

defining and preventing red-tagging (FoOE)

5. Enact the Human Rights Defenders Bill (CC)

6. Major judicial inquiry to review all cases against environmental human rights defenders
prosecuted as a result of allegations by the military (CC)

7. Establish a dedicated special prosecutor for crimes against journalists and human rights defenders
(FoOE)

The last four years of abuse of supposedly anti-terrorist legislation creates the conditions for legal actions
to challenge oppressive provisions of the ATA and especially to outright repeal this. The ATA is being
used to target human rights defenders, farmers, religious leaders, and journalists under the guise of
countering terrorism and must be abolished. This is part of the larger struggle against authoritarian tactics
and violations of civil liberties in the Philippines.###