Calida to Anti-Terror Law petitioners: Are you with terrorists or not?

Solicitor General Jose Calida has accused petitioners opposed to the Anti-Terrorism Law of siding with terrorists.

“Your Honors, petitioners have never spoken out against the recent atrocities committed by terrorists against our People,” Calida told the Supreme Court (SC) during Tuesday’s (April 27) continuation of the oral arguments on the petitions seeking to declare as unconstitutional the law.

“If they have never taken a stand against these acts, and if silence is complicity, there can only be one inescapable conclusion,” he pointed out.

Calida cited that police last March 30 raided an armory of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) in Sta. Rosa, Laguna and found caches of weapons and explosives as well as subversive documents including those from the petitioners, namely, former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, Bayan Muna and Gabriela.

“Like any other law that has implications on individual rights, the Anti-Terrorism Act hjas been unfairly stigmatized as a mere legal ruse to quell oppositions against the current administration,” Calida lamented.

“That is a monstrous lie,” he stressed.

The solicitor general maintained that the law is “not an instrument of oppression” nor “a tool to suppress the vibrance of our democracy.”

“No; it is the embodiment of the State’s policy to protect life, liberty, and property from terrorism — a commitment to peace in our day and the future of our children,” he stated.

Citing a quote from President Rodrigo Duterte, Calida declared: “Huwag kayong matakot kung hindi ka terrorista.”

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)