HR Defenders bill, mapanganib- NTF-ELCAC

MAPANGANIB at maaaring labag sa Saligang Batas ang Human Rights Defenders bill.

Bahagi ito ng kalatas na ipinalabas ng National Task Force to End Local Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) matapos aprubahan ng Mababang Kapulungan ng Kongreso ang batas sa pangatlo at huling pagbasa noong nakaraang Lunes, na may 200 affirmative votes, zero negative, at walang abstention.

Ang House Bill 10576 o Human Rights Defenders Protection Act ay naglalayong “seeks to grant human rights defenders the right to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms; form groups, associations, and organizations; solicit, receive, and utilize resources; seek, receive and disseminate information; and develop and advocate for human rights ideas, among others. A counterpart measure, meanwhile, is pending in the Senate.”

Sinabi ni Undersecretary Lorraine Marie Badoy, NTF-ELCAC spokesperson for sectoral concerns, na ang batas ay maaaring magsilbi at protektahan ang interest ng terrorist organizations gaya ng Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF).”

“This bill, if passed into a law, will open the floodgates of abuse and torment on our people by terrorists like the CPP-NPA-NDF and it will make the Anti-Terrorism Law that was recently declared constitutional by the Supreme Court ineffective and toothless,” ani Badoy.

Sinabi pa niya na kinondena ng NTF-ELCAC “in no uncertain terms” ang pag-apruba sa batas “that is dangerous as it is unconstitutional and labeled to mean the very opposite of what it pretends to be — the Human Rights Defenders Bill.”

Giit pa ni Badoy na ang batas ay “a porous and overboard definition” of human rights defenders and that its basic premise is “the same basic premise of the CPP-NPA-NDF that the State is the No.1 violator of human rights.”

“[It] is really hilarious that these pretend-legislators have arrogated unto themselves, through this ludicrous bill, the right to define who are and aren’t ’human rights defenders’ — a definition so porous in its broadness that even the ISIS, the Abu Sayyaf and of course, the CPP-NPA-NDF can be defined as human rights defenders,” ayon kay Badoy.

“And once identified as ‘human rights defender, they will be exempt from sacrosanct laws of the land and cannot be touched by the Anti Money Laundering Council because looking into financial records of a ‘human rights defender’ will be a crime once this ridiculous bill is passed into law,” dagdag na pahayag nito.

Aniya, sa panukalang batas, “human rights defenders cannot be identified as members of the CPP-NPA-NDF even if they are indeed members of the CPP-NPA-NDF and they will be exempt from Terrorism Financing Laws.”

“How then can the government protect the Filipino people from terrorism if we cannot stop terrorism financing or take off masks of terrorists who pretend to be human rights defenders? This is a bill therefore that eradicates the notions of state, judiciary, and due process and bypasses government agencies and the laws of our land,” aniya pa rin.

“There is no other recourse, therefore, but for this bill to be junked,” lahad ni Badoy. (Daris Jose)