As the Anti-Terror Act (ATA) marks its fifth year, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) joins labor centers, development and other NGOs, and people’s organizations in calling for the immediate review, if not the junking, of the law, together with the Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA).

The country’s supposed anti-terrorism laws have been severely weaponized against the labor movement. Ten (10) labor activists and leaders have been charged with terrorism financing, Two (2) of whom have been imprisoned because of these charges. At the same time, countless labor activists and leaders have faced human rights violations, from harassment to extra-judicial killing, because they are being linked to organizations designated by the government as terroris

A prominent example is Jaime Paglinawan, chairperson of national labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno’s (KMU, May First Movement) regional chapter in Central Visayas. A military official filed a case of terrorism financing against him together with 26 NGO workers based in Cebu in relation to some incident in 2012. The evidence is flimsy but the defendants had to post bail in 2024 so they can continue their work for the communities that they serve.

These supposed anti-terror initiatives have resulted in violations of workers’ and labor activists’ right to freedom of expression and opinion, to freedom of association, and to other related rights. They have contributed to weakening the labor movement, silencing legitimate political dissent, and therefore to further weakening the country’s democracy in which the labor movement has historically played a very important part.

Signed by the fascist and mass murderer Rodrigo Duterte, these laws have not been known for curbing any terrorist threat or organization. We quote the recent report of United Nations Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Opinion, Ms. Irene Khan: “according to resolutions of the United Nations,” terrorism pertains to “acts against civilians committed with the intention of causing death or serious injury.”

One would think from the way that the government used the ATA and the TFPSA that many ordinary Filipinos live in fear of terrorist attacks. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Filipinos who fear death or serious injury in the hands of a political organization actually fear the government itself.

The truth is that the ATA and TFPSA have been used chiefly in the government’s counter-insurgency campaign, in which terror-tagging has helped legalize and justify human rights violations against members and leaders of legal and legitimate labor and people’s organizations.

Anti-terrorism laws are not what the Filipino workers and people need in relation to the armed insurgency. These have just been weaponized by the government’s militarist approach. What workers and all Filipinos need is a stated and sincere government policy of addressing the social, economic and political root causes of the armed conflict – poverty, hunger, unemployment, landlessness, lack of avenues for democratic participation, among others.

These laws’ continued use by the government shows the fundamental similarity between the Duterte and the present Ferdinand Marcos Jr governments. Marcos Jr tries to earn brownie points for some high-profile actions but continues to weaken human rights and democracy in the country.