EDITORIAL - Useless legislation

From the start, critics had pointed out that this was a law that was unlikely to be enforced. Under pressure to give more teeth to counterterrorism efforts, Congress passed Republic Act 9372 or the Human Security Act of 2007, which was signed into law by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Among other things, RA 9372 defined the crime of terrorism and imposed penalties for specific terrorist acts.

Most of the provisions in the counterterrorism law were milder versions of measures adopted in countries such as Britain. Largely because of public mistrust of Philippine law enforcers, safeguards against human rights violations were included in RA 9372 at the last minute, rendering the law largely useless. Among the provisions was a fine of P500,000 slapped on law enforcers for each day of detention of a terror suspect who is later acquitted by the courts. Critics had noted that no cop would dare take that risk in the name of keeping the public safe.

Another provision requires state forces to notify those who are placed under surveillance for terrorist activities. Clearly, this defeats the purpose of surveillance, and clearly, this provision was designed to emasculate RA 9372. This law was designed not to be enforced.

Now President Aquino has asked Congress to amend the provisions in RA 9372 that have tied the hands of counterterrorism units. Laws cannot be designed simply to please the country’s partners in fighting terrorism, or to obtain more military and law enforcement assistance from foreign donors. The threat of extremist violence is still there, and the state needs better tools to fight the threat.

Let’s hope this time Congress can come up with a law that can be realistically and reasonably enforced. Otherwise those legislative sessions will be nothing but a waste of time, effort and public funds that could be used elsewhere.