Who’s afraid of the Anti-Terror Bill?
Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III said recently that only terrorists and supporters of terrorists will fear the Anti-Terror Bill. This goes without saying that everyone else who is not a terrorist shouldn’t worry about a thing.
The statement is not only grossly naive, but exposes a level of ignorance that would give all the morons and idiots in the world a bad name.
For one, people who sow terror live by the principles of terror. Hence, these people do not scare easily. They care little for their lives just as they care little for the lives of others. Why? Because their cause is paramount.
These are purpose-driven people who will not hesitate to lose their lives if only to carry out an objective.
Aren’t they the ones who crash car bombs in the middle of the throng? Wrap C-4 or dynamite ‘round themselves if only to accomplish a bombing hit? Spray acid or other dangerous chemicals inside trains and malls without thought to their own lives?
In fact, as a journalist who had studied and continues to study the whys and wherefores of so-called terrorist activity, at first I was amazed at how organized these people are, how well-funded, too. In fact, they’re too well-funded that they could produce terrorist literature which, if you don’t know any better, could easily suck you into its vortex of hate and lies.
Take for example the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s magazine, Dabiq. Even a cursory reading of its articles would tell you how organized, knowledgeable, and ‘inspired’ they are about their cause.
Any exhaustive content analysis reveals something even more disturbing to non-members: a string of thematic pronouncements encouraging its members to believe that “they are sanctioned by Allah and will triumph culturally over the West and nonbelievers”.
What could be more bulletproof even to the average believer than the conviction that one’s actions have God’s approval, using a magazine that is not only well-crafted but, on the whole, quite surprisingly well-written?
Isn’t this the very reason why many so-called ‘terrorists’ lay down their lives for a ‘just’ and ‘righteous’ cause regardless of the violence and mayhem they inflict on their targets and on themselves?
Do you really believe that a man or woman who thinks and lives his life that way would cringe before an Anti-Terror bill? Even as a joke it doesn’t work, much less as a punchline.
You know who’s afraid of the bill? It’s people like us — ordinary citizens — who after close to four years of witnessing abuse after abuse, murder after murder, theft after theft, know that the very intention and language of the bill have us in its crosshairs. Why?
Simple. If I were to put myself in the shoes of the tyrant, it stands to reason that I will have to act fast. Dissent is growing, quicker now than expected. The deaths of suspected drug users, which by now have reached tens of thousands, and my friendship with Xi Jinping, have, alas, been uncovered for what they truly are: treasonous acts stained even further by corruption and the mockery of the Constitution.
The Covid-19 contagion only made matters worse. As quarantine protocols ease up and life turns slowly back to “normal,” critics of the regime will surely hold the State accountable for the hundreds of billions of pesos which seem to have disappeared as soon as these were released.
A number of police officers will have to face up to the fact that police brutality, as well as rape in exchange for quarantine passes, were done without the slightest remorse. Thinking and acting as if the law doesn’t apply to them, some officers went on a punishment spree while a slap on the wrist is all that they received for the numerous violations they themselves have committed.
Covid-19 has exposed government’s incompetence, incoherence, incorrigible-ness, and largely inutile decisions in solving the crisis, leaving hundreds dead, including healthcare workers and with many more inflicted with the disease.
With highly incompetent people spearheading the blitzkrieg via their own interpretation of this bill, should it pass into law, there is no doubt in my mind that they will twist its language to suit their ways. What we have seen over the past three years is proof undeniable that this can and will happen.
Aren’t you even wondering why several laws that have nothing to do with solving the pandemic were passed while we were holed up in our homes?
The Quarantine Press Pass policy to control the coverage of the media while under lockdown. This, in my opinion, tantamount to forcing the public to accept certain conditions (such as a pandemic) as sufficient justification to muzzle the press.
And what about the House of Representatives giving its nod in March this year on 100% foreign ownership on communications, power and transport? I mean, what has that got to do with the pandemic? Well, with the shutdown of ABS-CBN, think of the implications of this law on free speech once foreign owners scramble to grab what should be ours by legislation.
Seven days ago, Malacanang announced its need to extend the President’s emergency powers for an additional 90 days for reasons that don’t make any sense: “ to manage the crisis in the country brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak”.
Was it able to manage the contagion in the first time? He couldn’t even properly stage a coherent press conference.
Then comes the Anti-Terror bill when the real terror comes in the form of a virus and the incompetence of those tasked to manage it.
The Anti-Terror Bill is perfect in curbing what the State expects as a groundswell of criticism and dissent aimed at further discrediting what is already grossly discreditable in the first place.
The bill is the State’s way of grasping at straws because they know their time will soon be up.
