Days before the Anti-Terror Law is set to take effect on July 19, a group of American lawmakers called on the government to repeal the controversial law. According to United States Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, she and 44 other lawmakers sent a letter calling for its immediate repeal to Philippine Ambassador to the U.S. Jose Romualdez.

In a virtual press conference held on July 15, Schakowsky said that the law gives the current administration a new weapon to suppress dissent and worsen attacks on the country’s citizens. “This law is overbroad and we believe that it’s already being used to stifle peaceful dissent and targets civil society, including human and labor rights groups in the Philippines,” she added.

“We fear it will also be used against anyone who protests against the government whether it be against abuse in the government delay in the distribution of COVID-19 aid or any other grievance because the president has shown he is intolerant of any and all dissent.”

Another signatory of the letter, U.S. Congresswoman Judy Chu from California, notes that the Anti-Terrorism Law threatens the country’s democracy and human rights. “Despite the title, this legislation is not about terrorism. It’s about silencing dissent. The true targets of this law are advocates for human rights, the environment, workers, and Indigenous communities.”

Various groups in the country have also protested the Anti-Terrorism Law as well. Lawmakers and law professors filed requests for an immediate temporary restraining order against the law before it took effect and petitions to declare the law entirely unconstitutional.

“While threats to our national security need to be addressed, the law, as crafted, is oppressive and inconsistent with our constitution, hence, the petition. This fight against Terrorism should not and should never be a threat to the fundamental freedoms of all peaceful Filipinos.”

[READ: Lawmakers, law profs file more Anti-Terror Law petitions today. Here’s how their arguments stack up]

The Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI), a network of more than 250 church-based groups, non-governmental organizations and people’s organizations nationwide has partnered with Misereor, a social development arm of German bishops based in Germany in a bid to amplify the people’s call to repeal the controversial law.

The law, according to the group, would “subvert our fundamental rights and liberties, paving the way for a much worse situation than the Martial Law period.”

[READ: “We will not submit to fear”: 250 church and people’s groups protest the Anti-Terror Act]

Header photo by Inquirer.net

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