IndigNation
It’s better to be silenced than to be silent. ~ Political activist and former University of the Philippines president SP Lopez
As the afternoon of July 3 drew to a close and the evening slipped past the rubble of pandemic, Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed the Anti-Terrorism Bill into law.
A day prior, Pres. Xi Jinping of the People’s Republic of China inked the controversial Hong Kong National Security Law, forever changing the legislative and sociopolitical landscape of the city.
The world seems to be on the brink of an irrefutable transformation toward the totalitarian mindset, as The New York Times observed:
In Hungary, the prime minister can now rule by decree. In Britain, ministers have what a critic called “eye-watering” power to detain people and close borders. Israel’s prime minister has shut down courts and begun an intrusive surveillance of citizens. Chile has sent the military to public squares once occupied by protesters. Bolivia has postponed elections.
The report adds: The pandemic is already redefining norms. Invasive surveillance systems in South Korea and Singapore, which would have invited censure under normal circumstances, have been praised for slowing infections. Governments that initially criticized China for putting millions of its citizens under lockdown have since followed suit.
A couple of world leaders are worth mentioning: Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu uses counter-terrorism measures and technology to track down quarantine violators; Prime Minister Omar Razzaz of Jordan brings down the gavel on anyone who’d spread rumors and fake news about the pandemic; the report also mentions Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha of Thailand whose broad powers set the stage for the persecution and intimidation of journalists; and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who now has the power to ‘sidestep Parliament and suspend existing laws’.
In the United States, the report said, the Justice Department asked Congress for sweeping new powers, including a plan to eliminate legal protections for asylum seekers and detain people indefinitely without trial. After Republicans and Democrats balked, the department scaled back and submitted a more modest proposal, the report said.
Human Rights Watch had noticed these swift changes in government protocol and response to the pandemic as early as March.
In a number of countries, the group said, governments have failed to uphold the right to freedom of expression, taking actions against journalists and healthcare workers. This ultimately limited effective communication about the onset of the disease and undermined trust in government actions.
At the homefront, the last couple of days saw the Duterte regime working overtime to pass the Anti-Terrorism Act which allows the Philippine National Police to arrest people on mere suspicion and detain them for a period more than what is prescribed in the Revised Penal Code.
By the time the law was signed, the Department of Health has logged in a little over 40,000 Covid-19 infections. Without mass testing, the numbers are predictably higher than reported. Sen. Bong Go’s Balik Probinsiya Program only exacerbated what was already a wretched picture of a health crisis to begin with.
Talk about twisted priorities.
The swing from democracy to dictatorship takes many forms. With the passing of the Terror Bill into law, there’s no denying that we have crossed the threshold of fear. With this law in place, one that could push anyone into the jaws of detention for up to 24 days on mere suspicion or someone’s accusation, self-censorship becomes the order of the day.
This is where power of expression is more often ‘surrendered than seized,’ as one author aptly puts is. Worse, this is where truth becomes a mere slogan or meme, best expressed in chants and posters but never in real life. Because in the totalitarian context, real life is what tyrants make it.
What seems to me as totally out of place are the recent events surrounding the relationship of both forces supposedly tasked to protect the people from terror attacks: the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines
A couple of days ago, four military intelligence operatives, members of the Philippine Army, were gunned down in Sulu by police, hinting of what seems like another case of mistaken identity.
The top brass of the Philippine National Police first identified the incident as a ‘misencounter,’ a classification the Armed Forces leadership vehemently denied.
According to enraged Army chief Lieutenant General Gilbert Gapay in a report by Rappler, “The soldiers were on a mission to identify the location of known terrorists in the area. Based on eyewitness accounts, no altercation transpired between the two parties nor was there any provocation on the part of Army personnel to warrant such carnage. Furthermore, no agents from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency are involved and this is not an anti-drug operation. The Army grieves and condoles with the families of our fallen men. There will be no let up in our quest for truth and justice.”
In another Rappler report, Gapay said, “We find the report fabricated, full of inconsistencies, parang sine (like a movie), and very misleading.”
A rubout, as the Army claims?
The murder of four Army operatives has all the markings of a cover-up all because the police seems to be reticent about the whole affair. Not only that, it seems serious enough to compel the President to fly to the scene in order to have a word with the troops.
The question is: why would the police open fire on operatives who were in hot pursuit of two alleged terrorist bombers? First thought that comes to mind is: are these same policemen ‘protectors’ of terrorists?
Investigations are ongoing.
The President’s visit and appeals for calm would’ve appeased somehow what could only be a brewing tension between the country’s two security forces when yesterday, another shooting took place in Basilan.
This time, three paramilitary members and a soldier died after they were shot by members of the Barangay Peace Action Team, which is considered a police force multiplier in the said province.
Based on a report by CNN Phils, “Initial investigation showed a ‘personal grudge/long standing feud’ between both sides.”
How does one expect to fight real terrorism when the greater terror of infighting, jealousy, and long-standing feuds between our armed forces are narrowing down the numbers of our men and women in uniform? This, for me, is an even bigger problem than the threats posed by al-Qaeda, ISIL or Abu Sayyaf, however armed and dangerous these terrorist organizations may be.
With the passing of the Anti-Terrorism Bill into law, the police seems to be flexing its muscles for the purpose of seizing authority from the military in the fight against terrorists. Is this the reason, and for what end, exactly?
What’s in it for who? These questions need some answers.
Kristian Williams, so-called anarchist author of the controversial book, Our Enemies In Blue: Police and Power in America, wrote:
When the police enforce the law, they do so unevenly, in ways that give disproportionate attention to the activities of poor people, people of color, and others near the bottom of the social pyramid. And when the police violate the law, these same people are their most frequent victims. This is a coincidence too large to overlook. If we put aside, for the moment, all questions of legality, it must become quite clear that the object of police attention, and the target of police violence, is overwhelmingly that portion of the population that lacks real power.
In a country like ours, where legality is often mistaken for rightness, police brutality is pretty much considered cliché and banal, too commonplace in certain areas as to attract widespread attention.
But that’s the problem: one act of brutality of the police is one too many. This obvious hostility to the general population, to say little of police hostility to members of the military, is a factor we must denounce as swiftly as we can.
When law enforcers turn into lawbreakers, indignation is the only answer.
