Pornography of Terror
George Orwell: ‘Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.’
The next seven days would be like traipsing through land mines. Either the Anti-Terrorism Bill is vetoed by the President or it would automatically lapse into law even without his signature.
The implications of that event will shape our nation’s present and future, a future mainly populated by our children. Needless to say, they will now be forced to bear the brunt of attacks until such time that their rights, as well as their dignity, would fritter away in a war of attrition our kids would have no way of winning.
If today’s spectacle of police brutality is a clear indication of what we would all be facing, then we have reason not only to fear but to rage. From the death of retired corporal Winston Ragos in the hands of police to the murder of four military intelligence operatives in Sulu by members of the Philippine National Police, the recent crackdown on LGBTQ protest, illegal arrest of a team of environmental law enforcers from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and every other abuse the elderly and children were subjected to while under quarantine — all these are virtual dress rehearsals for the coming pornography of terror.
Let’s not even go to the State’s continuing ‘drug war’ which the United Nations say have killed over 20,000 Filipinos belonging to the poorest of the poor in a span of four years, 122 of them children.
The Duterte regime’s Anti-Terrorism Bill raises terror in much the same way as Hong Kong’s newly passed Security Law. This “new reign of terror” has swiftly changed the sociopolitical landscape of the much beloved tourist destination, leaving even its staunchest pro-democracy activists allegedly running for cover.
As reported by Al Jazeera, “After the law passed Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress earlier on Tuesday, prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Nathan Law issued statements on Facebook saying they would withdraw from the pro-democracy organisation Demosisto.”
The disturbing part in all this is that very few had had the opportunity to read the said law before it was signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday, July 2.
Would this be the death of Hong Kong and its pro-democracy movement? Some say it would be. I’d say it’s their chance to shine, if and when they choose to stand their ground.
I don’t think it would be an exercise in hyperbole to conclude that Marcos’ martial law pales in comparison with the wave after wave of abuse that would come in the heels of the Terror Bill. To run off with $10 billion in stolen loot while leaving scores of Filipinos under the category of the disappeared or desaparecidos, Marcos had to place the whole nation under military rule.
After four years in power, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte said nothing to officially draw the conclusion that we’re under martial law. What his critics call de facto martial law is Duterte using the law for his regime’s own ends: power, control, and full access to government coffers — ‘legally’ — thus needing very little accountability, if at all.
Not only that, but he seems to give the impression that as President, he has all the right to claim for himself everything that belongs to the people, thus giving his actions and decisions the validity only our laws are entitled to.
One cannot help but be struck with how Duterte is able to pull this off. How one man can command the loyalty of hundreds within the three branches of government proves to be a mystery to many. I, personally, would feel absolutely insulted to give him even a sliver of loyalty if and when such loyalty is called for — a loyalty that is sincere, unwavering, and does not hinge on the legal tender.
Why even bother when the man cannot conduct a simple press conference without ending up as a late-night comedy talk show? It doesn’t take a lexicon of epiphanies to know that such loyalties, the sort that skews all logic, are either bought by the legal tender or wrought in the furnace of threats.
Tyrants know how rare it is for the likes of them to earn the loyalty and respect of people, not when we now have Hitler or Marcos to study from hindsight. The berdugo’s closest circle he shapes with the legal tender and offers of powerful positions; the rest, with fear.
We can think of a few scenarios transpiring just right after the bill passes into law. First, more police visibility as a first sign of the country’s transformation into an official police state. We all can see hints of this unfolding even before the bill’s passing: police donned in military war fatigue, armed to the teeth with long automatic weapons, as if to suggest power and authority beyond the call of duty and summons of law.
Cebu, at the moment, is a virtual war zone with military personnel and members of the Special Action Force (SAF) carrying on the role of shock and awe in the government’s response to the pandemic.
Impunity would be the order of the day, no doubt, what with provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Bill legalizing arrests on mere suspicion. Police has a sterling track-record of mistaken identity which stretches long into the past. If they can’t tell between terrorists and four military intelligence operatives which they eventually murdered, how far do you think will they insist on their incompetence if the bill lapses into law?
Since we’re still under quarantine, any and all attempts for democracy movements to gather and raise a grievance would be swiftly nipped in the bud.
Students will be particularly vulnerable to abuse due to the restlessness brewing in our universities. I am 100% certain they will fight this and, as such, scores could be hurt.
The challenge journalists are facing would triple once the bill passes into law. With the ABS-CBN shutdown and Maria Ressa’s conviction, even as I write this, news bureaus are reeling from the effects of the menace— state repression, corporate fallout and Covid-19 pandemic.
The Mindanao Daily Mirror based in Davao wrote 30 recently due to the economic crunch that came in the heels of the pandemic. SunStar Cagayan de Oro stopped its printing operations and chose rather to remain online.
The Philippines Graphic, the longest-running weekly political and literary magazine where I worked for the last 12 years as editor-in-chief, has retrenched nearly 98% of its editorial staff, including myself. Last I heard, it will operate on a monthly timeline.
A number of veteran columnists and editors have suffered pay cuts the likes of which goes well below the breadline. Journalists will be fighting to stay afloat on one end as it battles a pornography of terror on a scale never yet seen or written about on the other.
I take consolation in the fact that many Filipinos are still willing and able to take the fight to a different level. The war doesn’t end even where many of the honored brave have fallen. Should democracy die as a political system in the country, it will live on as an idea worth fighting for in the hearts and minds of millions of Filipinos.
This is where it gets interesting because ideas can’t be killed. Al it does is grow on fertile ground. The road may be long and narrow, but the fact that our nation is perforated with a rich heroic and revolutionary legacy tells me nothing is impossible.
As for me, I am just getting warmed up. I cheer the words of philosopher and political activist Thomas Paine:
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow.
Smile, people. Stay proud. We have a nation to redeem.
