Creepy terror-law cases; more US military base sites

Thus far, there are nine Philippine military bases designated as sites for US military facilities to preposition American troops and equipment under the  2014 US-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), an executive accord pursuant to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty. Four of these were approved by Marcos Jr. in April.

Many questions and concerns have been raised against these sites that haven’t been sufficiently answered. Now comes the news: there may be even more of them.

Yesterday, after the annual meeting of the Mutual Defense Board and Security Engagement Board, US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral John Aquilino announced that he and AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. “made recommendations to our senior leaders for the consideration of additional sites.” However, he added, “but there’s still work to do there.”

There’s another disturbing development that has not yet been sufficiently aired.

It’s about how the government has been systematically using the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), which took effect in July 2020, to suppress dissent and legitimate advocacies/activities through unjust, disproportionate punishments. It’s doing so, using some of its penal provisions alone, or in tandem with the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

For instance, criminal cases have been filed against activists invoking terrorism and terrorism-related offenses under the ATA such as the following sections of Article 4:

• Providing material support to “terrorist” organizations (Section 12);

• Planning the commission of terrorism (Sec. 6);

• Engaging in acts intended to cause bodily harm (Sec. 14);

• Possessing weapons and explosives (Sec. 4d); and

• Being an accessory to the commission of terrorism (Sec. 14).

Except for the last provision, Section 14 that is penalized by 12 years of imprisonment, all the four preceding provisions are penalized by life imprisonment without parole and benefits (emphasis mine).

Besides the above cases, criminal cases have also  been filed involving alleged financing terrorism (making available funds or property to persons designated as terrorists) under Section 8 (iii) of the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act.

Before the filing of criminal charges, the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC), headed by the Executive Secretary with certain Cabinet secretaries as members, had engaged in the following actions:

• Designated individuals or groups (such as the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and several of its peace consultants) as “terrorists/terrorist organizations” and

• Imposed financial sanctions on the designated individuals and organizations. These actions involved inquiries into their bank deposits, freezing their assets and civil forfeiture. Among those adversely affected by these actions are: Amihan (National Federation of Peasant Women), the Haran Center of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines and the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines’ national office and Northern Mindanao regional office.

In a brief overview of the cases filed and trends in the use of the ATA, presented by the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) secretary general Josalee Deinla at a forum organized by the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) in Quezon City last Thursday, the following trends and observations were cited:

• Terrorism charges are complementing other charges of common crimes and, in one case even violations of the domestic International Humanitarian Law – all of which arise from the same incident;

• Statements of so-called rebel returnees are heavily relied on and are deemed sufficient to cause designations and the freezing of assets without notice and hearing of those designated as terrorists;

• Administrative designation has been resorted to because the government has failed to outlaw as terrorist the CPP-NPA through judicial proscription, as provided by the law, and to secure convictions against activists accused of being CPP-NPA members.

• The pattern has been not to file charges as violations of existing penal laws are committed, but to fabricate charges against individuals who are targeted for their political beliefs, dissenting views and progressive advocacies.

Consequently, the NUPL observed, “[t]he widespread and systematic abuse of counter-terrorism and counter-financing-of-terrorism measures has pervasive and evidenced discriminatory impacts against marginalized and historically discriminated-against groups.”

Going back to the development of more EDCA sites: “Knowledgeable sources” quoted in news reports said that the two sides would conduct a joint survey of prospective sites before recommending approval. Specifically preferred are airports and seaports with military and coast guard presence.

Bothered by concerns expressed by a foreign ambassador rather than by Filipinos, AFP chief Brawner said: “All of these joint operations, even the selection of our EDCA sites, have nothing to do with the other countries in the Indo-Pacific region, meaning threats that could come from these countries.”

He was echoing the US embassy in Manila which reacted on April 15 to Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian’s pronouncement that the Philippines was “stoking the fire by offering the US access to military bases near the Taiwan Straits.” The embassy stated: “EDCA is a key component of the US-Philippine alliance, and is not about any other country. EDCA sites will support combined training exercises and interoperability between US and Philippine forces to ensure that we’re even better prepared for future crises.”

Brawner, Aquilino and US Ambassador MaryKay Carlson inspected the two new EDCA sites in Cagayan province (the Lal-lo airport and Camilo Osias Naval Base in Sta. Ana), as well as Basa Airbase in Floridablanca, Pampanga, where a 2.8-kilometer runway costing $24 million is being completed. The airbase, which is relatively close to Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, has received $66.57 million from the US for other projects.

“We’re not just looking at how we can operate together more efficiently but also… at the future operations that we’re going to conduct. All these factors should come in as we decide on which projects we’re really going to pursue,” Brawner told reporters.

Pleased with what he saw, Admiral Aquilino declared: “We are highly optimistic that next year, more of these projects will be operational, allowing us to engage in joint exercises and operations immediately.”