Philippine News Agency • June 11, 2020
Anti-terror law to bring justice to NPA victims: E. Samar mayor
BOMBING VICTIMS. Passersby rescue tricycle passengers seriously wounded by an explosion perpetrated by the New People's Army in Libuton village in Borongan City, Eastern Samar in this Dec. 13, 2019 photo. At least three civilians and a police officer died in this attack. (Photo courtesy of Alexis Genelex Deloria)
TACLOBAN CITY – The deaths of civilians, policemen, and soldiers in Borongan City, Eastern Samar in 2019 due to bombings perpetrated by the New People's Army (NPA) have prompted its mayor to support the passage of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
In a phone interview on Thursday, Mayor Jose Ivan Agda said the terroristic acts committed by the NPA that tainted the city’s peaceful status calls for the need to pass the law against terrorism.
The mayor of Eastern Samar provincial capital said the enactment of House Bill 6875 will serve justice to the past and future victims of terror attacks.
“My message is brief and direct. The soldiers and civilians who have perished should not be forgotten. We need to remind everyone of the horror of bombings so that it is not repeated in the future," Agda told the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
On Dec. 13, 2019, a junior police officer and an old woman were killed on the spot while four other policemen and 12 civilians, including three minors, were injured when the NPA detonated the explosive meant for a passing police patrol car along a major road in the city’s Libuton village.
Fatalities in the bombing incident rose after a local government employee of Taft, Eastern Samar died hours later while being transported in an ambulance due to severe injury and a mother succumbed due to head fracture a week after.
On Nov. 11, 2019, six soldiers died and 20 others from the government troops were critically injured after the NPA detonated a landmine and staged an ambush in the city’s remote Pinanag-an village.
“I am positive that atrocities will be prevented with the passage of the bill. The rule of law should prevail since we are a democratic country. I hope my stand will not be misconstrued by groups who are against the proposed law,” Agda added.
Borongan, the capital of Eastern Samar province, is home to about 70,000 people.
At least nine of its 61 villages are still threatened by activities of NPA, the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines.
The Philippine Army earlier said the bill seeks to end the decades-long communist insurgency in the country.
The bill introduces provisions imposing life imprisonment without parole on those who will participate in the planning, training, preparation, and facilitation of a terrorist act; possess objects connected with the preparation for the commission of terrorism; or collect or make documents connected with the preparation of terrorism.
Under the bill, any person who will threaten to commit terrorism will suffer the penalty of 12 years. The same jail term will be meted against those who will propose any terroristic acts or incite others to commit terrorism.
Any person who will voluntarily and knowingly join any organization, association, or group of persons knowing that such is a terrorist organization, will suffer imprisonment of 12 years.
Under the bill, the number of days a suspected person can be detained without a warrant of arrest is 14 calendar days, extendable by 10 days. (PNA)
