EDITORIAL – Fine-tuning

Monetary officials are worried that terrorists could take advantage of loopholes in the Human Security Act to launder funds. Senators, for their part, want to introduce more safeguards in the HSA to prevent the state from abusing wiretapping powers. Law enforcers, meanwhile, have been so spooked by provisions in the new law that leave them no wiggle room for making mistakes that no terror suspect has been arrested so far by the police since the HSA was passed. Instead the cops have left the counterterrorism battle to the military, not only in Basilan and Sulu but also, it seems, even in Metro Manila, where over a thousand soldiers have been deployed ostensibly to conduct civic operations.

The biggest danger in these developments is that the campaign against terrorists will suffer because a new law has paralyzed those who are supposed to enforce it. This paralysis must be avoided. The terrorist threat is real and terrorists never sleep. They bide their time, waiting for targets to let down their guard, and then strike. There are other laws that can be applied in going after those who plan to commit mass murder. These laws are inadequate – precisely the reason counterterrorism forces sought new tools from the legislature to fight the terror threat. But if everyone is scared to enforce the new law, public safety can be compromised.

A big deterrent to the enforcement of the HSA are provisions – 22, as counted by authorities – that could land counterterrorism forces in prison for more than a decade and require them to pay fines of at least P500,000 for certain methods of arrest and interrogation. A number of these methods have long been employed in regular law enforcement. No law enforcer wants to serve as the guinea pig in testing the provisions, which are meant to protect the public from state harassment.

There is a common enemy here, and it’s neither lawmaker nor law enforcer. The HSA was passed because legislators recognized the need for it. But the law can use some tweaking. While the HSA is undergoing fine-tuning, the battle against terrorism must not be derailed.