The deadly and protracted Marawi siege of 2017 could have been prevented had the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 been in effect at the time due to its tough provisions against inchoate offenses as well as its mechanism for cutting off terrorist funding.
Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson, chairman of the Senate National Defense and Security Committee, pointed out that the country cannot afford to wait for a repeat of the urban battle that caused massive loss of life and destruction of property.
The five-month Marawi siege is the longest urban battle in the modern history of the Philippines. It started on May 23, 2017.
“Had this measure been in effect earlier instead of the 2007 Human Security Act, the Marawi siege could have been prevented. For one, a new feature under this bill is to make punishable inchoate offenses, something not present under the present Human Security Act of 2007,” Lacson said in an online forum of the League of Provinces of the Philippines the other day when asked by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose “Bong” Lacson.
Lacson, a former Philippine National Police chief, sponsored the bill in the Senate.
‘’An inchoate offense is a preparatory act punishable even if the desired result of such act has not occurred yet, thus making it an independent crime itself. Section 6 of the anti-terrorism bill thus penalizes planning, training, preparing, and facilitating the commission of terrorism, which are acts performed towards the accomplishment of the desired purpose, which is terrorism,’’ he said.
Lacson said the anti-terrorism bill provides for a mechanism to prevent terrorist groups from accessing their funding by freezing their accounts.
The ATB passed by both Houses of Congress has been transmitted to President Duterte who has the constitutional prerogative to approve or veto it. The bill automatically becomes a law when the President does not act on it in 30 days. (Mario Casayuran)
