Statement On the Declaration of the Anti Terrorism Law as Constitutional by the Supreme Court

On the eve of Human Rights’ Day, the Supreme Court, last bastion of our democracy, has spoken with finality: the Anti Terrorism Law is constitutional.

The NTF ELCAC would like to enjoin our people to give the highest court in the land, our Supreme Court, a rousing ovation and our profoundest, most heartfelt gratitude for finally giving to our people, in this historic case, a most decisive victory.

Of notable worth is that under this Law, incitement, financing or providing material support and even membership to terrorist organizations can now be considered crimes.

And where before, recruitment into a terrorist organization wasn’t considered a crime, with this new law, anyone that tries to steal our children away from us will be locked away for life with no hope for parole.

FINALLY.

Truly this has been a long time coming.

It has been an arduous journey for the Filipino people who have suffered much and have labored long under a toothless law that offered us no protection, no defense from vicious terrorists and that put in harm’s way all that we hold precious - our children, our bright future and the destiny of our country.

It made us easy prey to the terrorist organization CPP NPA NDF that, for 52 years, has brought so much grief and destruction to our country and that has made of this beautiful country of ours a valley of tears where an unbearable number of our children and our indigenous peoples were recruited as violent extremists and have died tragic deaths while the travesty of CPP NPA NDF operatives inside the halls of Congress recruited them with shameless impunity and gave protection and cover to these grave abusers of our people.

The government has had to watch in helpless rage, our hands tied by a toothless law, as its citizens were abused, exploited, extorted, murdered in cold blood and as our bright dreams as a nation were dashed to the ground by communist terrorists who used our very democracy to destroy our democracy and poison the wells of our sacred learning institutions and places of worship and every imaginable sector of our society.

With this declaration of the Supreme Court, we can now close that chapter writ in blood in our country’s history and write a new one.

This time, this chapter will be filled with an empowered government fierce in its protection and defense of its citizens and where finally, FINALLY, the peace that has eluded us for so long will reign.

Let us begin.

Mabuhay ang mahal na Inang Bayang Pilipinas!

Undersecretary Lorraine Marie T. Badoy

Spokesperson for Sectoral Concerns

National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict