Dave Mariano Batara
Bachelor of Science in Legal Management
Isabela State University-Cauayan Campus
ABSTRACT
This paper sought to examine the provisions of the Philippines’ primary counterinsurgency legislation, the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA 2020). It gave a detailed discussion of how some of its provisions pose a serious threat to the constitutional rights of a person. Here, a qualitative research design and the grounded theory method of qualitative research were employed. This study also cited various instances of human rights violations committed by the government in its fight against terrorism. In the light of these violations, each provision of the ATA 2020 was meticulously analyzed especially those which threaten the rights to due process, to freedom of expression and of the press, to assemble and to associate, the freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, and other rights of the accused as enshrined under the Bill of Rights. Given the long history of human rights violations committed by the government in the past, and citing, in particular, those which were committed under the present Duterte administration, it is feared that ATA 2020 shall only be used to weaponize the employment of torture, extrajudicial killings, disappearances, illegal arrests, red tagging and the like.