LEGAL MEMORANDUM ON THE ANTI-TERRORISM LAW KNOWN AS THE HUMAN SECURITY ACT OF 2007 By Atty. Neri Javier Colmenares
The Anti-Terrorism Law [ATL] known as The Human Security Act is void because its provisions violate the 1987 Constitution and irreconcilably clash with the Bill of Rights. The law is irreparably vague, a violation of the due process requirement that a penal statute must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties. It is also overbroad , and therefore constitutionally infirm, because it covers and may penalize legitimate dissent. It must be stressed that the government has a long and judicially confirmed track record of political persecution as shown in the case of the "Batasan Six" and abuse of presidential powers when it used the calibrated preemptive response policy, Proclamation 1017 and other repressive measures to stifle protest. This time, however, the ATL will not merely stifle dissent but impose heavy penal sanctions for the mere exercise of constitutional rights. Considering that the law is not even necessary in order to arrest or prosecute members of bandit groups like the Abu Sayyaf, the law is a high price to pay for something that is nothing more than a publicly admitted imposition by foreign countries.
