Antiterror law opens opportunities for human rights abuses

I could only shake my head in disbelief after learning that the Arroyo administration still implemented the Human Security Act of 2007 despite the law's overwhelming rejection by the people who see it as a mechanism to "legitimize" more human rights abuses against government critics and the opposition. Fears about the HSA are not unfounded. Even before the HSA' implementation, we saw how the present dispensation could so wantonly violate the rights of the people.

We don't need the HSA (antiterror law) in our country. Yes, we still have the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army and the Abu Sayyaf, but our strong military alliance with the United States and the peace talks should be enough to deal with these problems. The antiterror law only unleashes the dogs of government abuse on the people.

The administration may say that under the Constitution, it is also the responsibility of the government to maintain peace and order. But it can do this by strengthening our police force and sincerely pursuing the AFP Modernization Program.

In implementing the HSA, the country's policymakers are missing the point. The priority concerns of Filipinos are education, health, jobs and food security.

Poverty is the worst form of terrorism. The government must address and solve this age-old problem once and for all. Curtailing the people's freedom to air their grievances is like rubbing salt on an already gangrenous wound.

It has been decades since we had a servant-leader in the person of Ramon Magsaysay. I hope the country will have a leader like Panama's Omar Torrijos who insisted on taking control of the Panama Canal on behalf of his people, or Ecuador's Jaime Roldos Aguilera who bravely defied the world's most powerful countries so that Ecuadorians would be the only ones benefiting from their natural resources.

President Macapagal-Arroyo is an economist. She must use her presidency and her brilliant ideas on economics for the benefit of the people. She must now choose between hanging on to power indefinitely or making good use of her God-given abilities by sincerely serving the people, especially the poor and downtrodden.

Sadly, after six and a half years in power, Ms. Arroyo and her minions have reduced the people into paupers and second-class citizens in their own country.

Filipinos have a great potential. Let us unite, act as one and aggressively pursue what is moral and just, and hold our past and present leaders accountable for their sins against the people. The nation has suffered so much.

(taken from the Letters to the Editor PDI July 24,2007 issue)