Terror law will jeopardize results of Summit

“Any headway against extra-judicial killings and disappearances from the 2-day Summit initiated by the Supreme Court (SC) will be put into waste and jeopardized by the implementation of the terror law.”

This was the statement today by the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) LaborCenter as the SC-initiated summit comes to a close. “The efforts during the summit will be put into naught and any road map to justice will be torn into shreds by the implementation of the terror law since it will legitimize human rights violations,” said Elmer “Ka Bong” Labog, National Chairperson of the KMU.

According to the labor leader, after filing a case to the SC asking to declare the anti-terror illegal and for them to issue of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), they are hoping the high court would make the case a top priority.

“After the Summit on Extra-Judicial Killings initiated by the SC, we are hoping that the Justices would place a top priority stamp on the case we filed against the anti-terror law and immediately issue a TRO to avert further deterioration of an already grim human rights situation,” said Labog.

According to Labog, the anti-terror law due to its vague and encompassing definition of terrorism would further endanger the rights of ordinary Filipinos instead of addressing the issue it is supposed to solve.

“To give the anti-terror law a chance, as to what the Arroyo regime is asking, is like handing over the keys to your house to a known felon. Since 2001, the number of extra-judicial killings and disappearances keeps piling-up and up to this date, no one has been made to pay for the grave injustices which so many victims suffered and continue to suffer,” stated Labog.