Calida’s tommyrot before the Court

In the news item “PH will get treated like a leper without the anti-terror law—Calida” (4/27/21), Solicitor General Jose Calida urged the Supreme Court, which is hearing several petitions to invalidate the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, to dismiss those petitions. He warned that the whole world would see the Philippines as a weak nation without that law, and cited the 2020 Global Index which indicated that the Philippines “has the dubious distinction of being the only Southeast Asian country … most impacted by terrorism.”

In the minds of many observers, Calida was talking tommyrot. It is, of course, common knowledge that the Duterte administration is more interested in lending cover to acts of intimidation and harassment perpetrated by its military and police forces against domestic critics, whom they can then “legally” tag as “terrorists” on mere suspicion and indefinitely keep in detention. Just look at the facility and alacrity with which they have been red-tagging organizers of the community pantries—good Samaritans whose only intent is to extend more “ayuda” in the midst of the extreme hardships caused by a pandemic the government has failed to control.

China has been committing more insidious and pernicious “acts of terrorism” against the Philippines. Its wholesale aggression in the West Philippine Sea has caused alarm bells to ring. Freedom of navigation is under threat of being abrogated by its militarization of the islands dotting those waters. It is all thanks mainly to President Duterte’s “friendship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who may seem to love hugging him—with a knife poised to be buried in his back at the slightest provocation.

So, Calida is more worried that the world might look down on the Philippines as being a weak—“inutil”—country? Try being China’s doormat, sir!

Reynaldo C. Escobar,[email protected]