Zamboanga City Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, chairperson of the Regional Peace and Order Council in the Zamboanga Peninsula. (PNA file photo)
The Regional Peace and Order Council (RPOC) 9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) has expressed support for the passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill into law, saying the measure would further boost the authorities' capability to protect civilians from the increasingly evolving terror acts.
In a June 10 letter addressed to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, the RPOC-9, chaired by Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, described terrorism as a global threat to peace and human life.
It noted that in the Philippines, numerous terror-related attacks have been perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf Group, communist New People’s Army (NPA), and the Islamic State-inspired Maute group in 2017, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing thousands of civilians.
The RPOC-9 also took note that even this city has suffered from terror-related attacks in the past years, citing the 2015 bombing of a bus terminal in Barangay Guiwan here, which killed two persons and injured 52 others.
“Clearly, there is a need to enact drastic measures to protect our country and its citizens from terrorism, which is constantly a mutating global threat that has no place in our society today,” the peace council said, adding that the legislation would enable law enforcers to effectively preempt terror acts.
Preemptive measures, it said, include the legal conduct of surveillance and intercepting and recording communications of terrorists who now use social media to promote violent ideologies and recruit new members.
The RPOC-9 noted that no less than the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1624 calls upon all states to adopt measures as may be necessary and appropriate and based on their obligations under international law.
“Nevertheless, we reiterate that while we support the passage of the anti-terrorism bill in order to enable our law enforcement and security personnel to protect civilians, especially from terrorist recruitment and operations in the region, we will yield to the rule of law, the Constitution, and the judiciary,” it added.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1105592
In a June 10 letter addressed to Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, the RPOC-9, chaired by Mayor Maria Isabelle Climaco-Salazar, described terrorism as a global threat to peace and human life.
It noted that in the Philippines, numerous terror-related attacks have been perpetrated by the Abu Sayyaf Group, communist New People’s Army (NPA), and the Islamic State-inspired Maute group in 2017, claiming hundreds of lives and displacing thousands of civilians.
The RPOC-9 also took note that even this city has suffered from terror-related attacks in the past years, citing the 2015 bombing of a bus terminal in Barangay Guiwan here, which killed two persons and injured 52 others.
“Clearly, there is a need to enact drastic measures to protect our country and its citizens from terrorism, which is constantly a mutating global threat that has no place in our society today,” the peace council said, adding that the legislation would enable law enforcers to effectively preempt terror acts.
Preemptive measures, it said, include the legal conduct of surveillance and intercepting and recording communications of terrorists who now use social media to promote violent ideologies and recruit new members.
The RPOC-9 noted that no less than the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution 1624 calls upon all states to adopt measures as may be necessary and appropriate and based on their obligations under international law.
“Nevertheless, we reiterate that while we support the passage of the anti-terrorism bill in order to enable our law enforcement and security personnel to protect civilians, especially from terrorist recruitment and operations in the region, we will yield to the rule of law, the Constitution, and the judiciary,” it added.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1105592
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