What Opposition “activists” and “partisans” essentially seek when calling for the blocking of the proposed and long-overdue Anti Terrorism Law is free rein to continue their seditious activities with impunity. These peoole are, after all, holdovers from vintage 1980s thinking who subscribe to the obsolete idea that people can simply mass on the street in a demonstration of “people power”, “demand” that a legitimately-elected leader step down, and then proceed to set up a “revolutionary” government for themselves.
Indeed, it is easy to see that this remains their preferred means of changing governments. This, despite the fact that the Philippines has long had a working institutionalised process for doing just that in an orderly manner that assures sufficient public representation in the outcome. That process is called an election. Opposition “activists” led by the Yellowtards (the bloc within it rabidly loyal to the Aquino-Cojuangco clan) and the communists prefer to bypass elections in favour of a street mob making national decisions on behalf of all Filipinos. In short, they prefer an illegal pathway to change in leadership. Writing for The Diplomat in 2016, Professor Mark R. Thompson, Acting Head of the Department of Asian and International Studies and Director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong, observed…
The precedent set by People Power in overthrowing a dictator was stretched to legitimize the toppling of an elected leader disliked by the upper classes.
Indeed, the 1986 EDSA people power “revolution” set a precedent for succeeding governments to “legitimately” disregard the law. This addiction to “people power” as a means to get things done became a virulent social cancer and a blanket threat that was kept hanging over the heads of the succession of presidents that followed. Even today, rumblings of a threat to mount, yet again, some sort of “people power” spectacle to unseat Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte are beginning to ripple across the chattering classes.
| SUPPORT INDEPENDENT SOCIAL COMMENTARY! Subscribe to our Substack community GRP Insider to receive by email our in-depth free weekly newsletter. Opt into a paid subscription and you'll get premium insider briefs and insights from us. Subscribe to our Substack newsletter, GRP Insider! Learn more |
It is therefore ironic that these very same “activists” now decry what they perceive to be the “arbitrary” way the proposed Anti-Terrorism Bill would designate as terrorist an individual or a group. In fact, many of their arguments easily come back to bite their inconsistent positions on most things.
A group featured in a tweet by “human rights defenders” Chel Diokno calling itself the “Free Legal Assistance Group” (FLAG), for example, asserts in a statement that the bill “classifies as terrorist acts common crimes already penalized by existing laws”. They of course don’t mention that the very nature of the “people power” they conspire to mount against the government is, itself, a tyrannical act that seeks to usurp the will of Filipino voters legitimised in an election. Whereas an election is a process with (albeit flawed) safeguards against misrepresentation, the street mob parliamentarianism they call “people power” has none of the sort. Now they conveniently ignore the fact that the bill does stipulate a rigorous process the state needs to undertake to regard a person or group as “terrorist”. This is more than could be said of the manner a steet mob would summarily accuse an elected leader of being an “evil dictator”.
The same FLAG statement warns of “the exclusive power of the State to unilaterally ‘designate’ persons or organizations as ‘terrorist’,” which, if true, is really is not too different to the way street mobs espoused by people like the FLAG chairman Chel Diokno also unilaterally designated duly-elected presidents as “tyrannical” and “unfit to govern” without due process as prelude to their “extra legal” removal from office through “people power”. The fact that they conveniently leave out in this argument is that the “state” they refer to is composed of three co-equal branches that check one another’s power and is not the “evil” monolithical agency out to terrorise its own citizens that they make it out to be.
Who then is the real terrorist here?
The truth is, it is this entitlement to illegal means to acquire power the Yellowtards and communists enshrine in their charters that is threatened by the Anti-Terrorism Bill. Under enhanced Anti Terrorism laws, acts of sedition and rebellion that pose a danger to the Philippines’ fragile democracy will be easier to crack down on. Under such laws, Filipinos can truly be vigilant lest terrorists under cover of their false narratives and emotional blackmail snatch it away from them.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
correct Benigno, these opposition activism is like the covid scare terrorizing the people. they should get a vaccination of anti terrorism act.
The Anti Terrorist activists are mostly: Aquino Cojuangco political axis people; CPP/NPA; Leftist organization fronts; Oligarchs who support the leftists; and other political opposition of various kinds .
They are complaining that the Anti Terrorism Bill is undemocratic. If they would be in power…will there be any “democracy” ? Just look at the histories of all communist countries. There are no elections. Power is in the family, who hold power. In Cuba, the late dictator, Fidel Castro, was succeeded by his brother, Raoul Castro….In North Korea: Power is in the hands of the Kim family. The present leader: Kim Jung Un, is an absolute dictator. There is no opposition. Anyone who talk against the North Korean regime is sent to the concentration camp, and worked to death. Their families are also charged with “imagined crimes”, and sent to the concentration camps. They are worked to death, and fed with barely some food…
So, this is what these leftist, NPA/CPP want to govern the Philippines.. Maybe, the CPP/NPA Supremo, Jose Maria Sison , wants to be President for life…then, succeeded by his children or relatives.
They are afraid of the Anti Terrorist Bill, because it will hinder them, in an effective way in their fight to grab power. The oligarchs and the opposition people are using these leftists, to grab power .
They have not forgotten the 1986 EDSA coup d’ etat, that was possible, because the U.S./C.I.A. and the U.S. Department of State , helped the Aquinos and the Marcos oppositions to remove Marcos Sr. The reason was the U.S. Bases in the Philippines. The lease of the U.S. Bases, were ending…and Marcos Sr., was not interested to renew the lease.
It is different time now. U.S. Pres. Donald Trump, and U.S. Dept. of State Secretary, Mike Pompeo, are now removing U.S. Forces in other countries. Pres. Trump, pulled out in the conflict in Syria. Sec. Pompeo is negotiating with the Taliban, to pull out U.S. troops in Afghanistan. U.S. Pres. Donald Trump simply is not interested in regime changes in other countries…look at Venezuela, the Venezuelan Pres. Maduro, is still there…
So, for those opposition idiots, who still believe that the 1986 EDSA coup d’ etat will be repeated against Pres. Duterte…come out of your senses, because U.S. Pres. Trump is not interested in regime changes, in other countries…. Besides, there are no U.S. Bases in the Philippines.
We support the Anti Terrorist Bill 200%. Defeat all terrorists. Stabilize the country. Junk the Aquino constitution…it is for the oligarchs !
If anything, I find it absurd that you claim to respect democracy when you do not at least respect the right of people to create free speech. If anything, I could say I respect your democratic process of being for the anti-terrorist bill without agreeing with it. I will not be butthurt or offended if you would reply back to my arguments, so please be mindful of reading these in depth instead of skipping it, instead of forming emotional accusations of my character without even knowing who I am. A true democrat will at least respect my free speech to listen to my arguments, and not skip over me as “unintelligent,” simply because I disagree.
Anyway, it seems you and GRP is performing a strawman fallacy — which is arguing against an argument that the opposing never said in the first place. Only you are claiming those against the anti – terrorist bill are doing this to support terrorism. If am wrong, please provide evidence to point it out. I am open. The point is that you say that being against the anti-terrorism bill is for terrorists because nothing is said about being for terrorists in the bill. This is not a matter of what is being said, but what is not being said. What is said, if you actually read Rappler’s arguments first to remove confirmation bias (the cognitive bias of not looking at both sides of the argument before deciding) is that terrorism is defined too broadly. It could easily be used to go after protests. Clearly, the results might be wrong as you say, but the claim that the opposing side has clear negative intentions is beginning to make you look suspicious. Not to say you don’t have good intentions, but if you’re just making claims out of thin air, how does good intentions mean the right action?
If you would like to understand this conclusion, I invite you to calmly look over the Black Lives Matter movement, which is a movement that is beginning to uprise due to the murder of black man George Floydd. You may argue this began in the U.S only, but it’s not hard to look for recent news that the movement is beginning to take place internationally.
Basically, the U.S created vast amounts of police brutality to discriminated populations — including Filipinos — essentially as a response to 9/11 — the attack on the twin towers. The various added military equipment was meant for terrorists, but now over the years, it gave the police too much power to abuse. If you would like proof, there are various real videos recorded by those on the internet of police brutality around the world — free on Youtube. If you decide not to view it, then perhaps you’re not smart enough to make a simple search on Youtube.
The current activism movement, is also moving forward to defund the police? Why? Because instead of working to cure the issue of crime, it is better to invest in prevention. In better education to teach values, investment in poverty so people won’t be so desperate to commit crime, healthcare so people won’t try to cheat their way for medical help, and so on.
Lastly, I do not get people’s anger here at something because things are an emotional argument showing love and compassion. I do not at all see intelligence and compassion as contradictory traits. I do not see it as shameful to make emotional arguments out of a sense of virtue, because clearly a lot of you make arguments like that considering you want to be against terrorism. I do not see intelligence without any empathy as a good thing at all in politics. Politics is not governing robots, and I am against an admiration of sociopathic like traits.
I am not against terrorism. I simply believe there is a better and less risky way to prevent terrorism, rather than just working on the brute strength of increasing the military force. President Duterte did promise to bring an end to the drug trade with violence, yes? Without mentioning any way of dealing of preventing what causes drug addiction in the first place? Well, years after, there’s still drug addicts. How’s that for results? Show me a statistic that drug addicts have vastly decreased here since then.
Thank you for reading. I respect whatever decision you make in reading this. I just hope you would respect my free speech in democracy too,
The hashtag #PulisAngTerrorista was trending on Twitter at some point which proves that there are enough people who actually believe that the police are collectively “evil” and that there are elements that seek to demonise the institution.
I also find it baffling that the police attract a disproportionate vilification of this sort while real terrorists like the New People’s Army routinely get a free pass from these “activists” or, worse, are portrayed as martyrs or heroes.
Actually , what the CPP/NPA is doing is like the Mafia in the U.S., and the COSA NOSTRA in Italy. It uses the communist ideology, as a pretense , to extort multi billion pesos from businesses, and wealthy people. Their Supremo, Jose Maria Sison is living a multi millionaire’s life in Amsterdam, Holland…
They have CPP/NPA “Bogus Legislators” in the Legislative branch of the government. These “Bogus Legislators” are recipient of DAP and PDAF, initiated by Abnoy Aquino, Mar Roxas and Porky Drilon.
The CPP/NPA has many “Bogus Political Activists”, in the form of “Bogus Patriotic Organizations”, that do the activism and demonstrations for any cause. These are funded by the oligarchy and some politicians who want to further their political agendas.
Additionally, the CPP/NPA also collects , “revolutionary taxes”, to fund their terroristic activities….these taxes are collected in kind or in cash, by the NPA insurgents themselves. They have CPP/NPA sympathizers in the media, in the show business, and mostly in academic campuses. The University of the Philippines is mostly the center of CPP/NPA activists.
This is the reason why the anti terrorist bill must be approved !