OTHER LEGISLATIONS AIMED AT ADDRESSING
TERRORISM AND ILLEGAL DRUGS
1. Amendments to the Human Security Act (HSA) - to strengthen the coordination and authority of
the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) and the Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) in
suppressing terrorism. In amending the HSA, the NICA, or its successor organization, shall
continue to perform its duty as Secretariat of the ATC. On the other hand, the ATC-Program
Management Center, in addition to its other tasks, shall continue to serve as the coordinator of
the Council in the performance of the Council’s functions. The institutionalization of this set up
will be done by the inclusion of the ATC-PMC in the HSA amendment. Moreover, the objective
of the amendatory bill is generally to make the law consistent with the UN Conventions on AntiTerrorism and the adoption of international best practices, considering that since the enactment
of the HSA, no case has prospered in the country.
2. Amendments to the Anti-Wiretapping Law - to judicially authorize the real-time/live monitoring
of telecommunications in cases involving pre-identified and confirmed persons or entities linked
to terrorism and other grave criminal activities.
3. Enactment of a SIM Card Registration Law - to pre-identify users of SIM cards and facilitate
their identification, as well as deter those who plan to use the same for terrorist or other
criminal activities.
4. Amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Financing Law - to freeze any account of pre-identified or
confirmed terrorist personalities, organizations or other entities engaged in terrorist financing or
trafficking in strategic goods (i.e. weapons of mass destruction and items of dual/alternative use
that can be applied in, converted to, or otherwise made a part of weapons of mass destruction,
pursuant to our obligation under UNSCR 2178) in coordination with the work of AMLC.
5. Enactment of an Official Secrets Act – to: (1) absorb best practices/provisions from laws of
various countries that already have such legislation; (2) provide classification and parameters
for classifying government secrets, authority for classifying and declassifying; (3) provide funds
for required hardware and software for databases, protocol for storage, retrieval, access to,
declassification and release to the public, period for storage, and protocol for destruction; (4)
proscribe solicitation by foreign user/s; and (5) legislate severe criminal liability for violations.
6. Amendments to the Cybercrime Law – to authorize, without prior judicial intervention/court
order, the blocking of any Internet site or source of pre-identified/confirmed terrorists, terrorist
organizations, or others propagandizing, inviting, inducing, recruiting for terrorism, including
terrorist financing for timely immediate action. In amending the Cybercrime law, include
provision of guidelines and detailed description of the crimes.
7. Amendments to the Passport Law – to authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ), without prior
judicial intervention/court order, to withhold, suspend, cancel/revoke passports or other travel
documents of Filipino extremists who have undergone trainings or have fought with/joined UN
proscribed terrorist organizations. The DOJ confirmation of the legal basis for these actions will
be for the immediate implementation of the Department of Foreign Affairs. Also, this requires
synchronization and amendment of the Immigration Law.
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