Texas protests demand: ‘Junk Philippine terror law’
Houston, TX – On July 8, activists with Malaya-Texas and Bayan, U.S.-based Filipino organizations, held events across the state of Texas against the repressive legislation enacted in the Philippines – the Republic Act 1147, also called Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.
In Houston, activists publicly spoke against the measure and handed out flyers condemning Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s July 3 signing of the law. The organizers, along with allies of the Philippine struggle for social and national liberation, including from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), then dropped a banner from Montrose bridge over US Highway 59, which read “Junk Philippine terror law.”
Malaya’s flyer stated the organization’s reasons for opposing the law. “What is now the ‘Anti-Terrorism Law’ (ATL) is the latest advancement of Duterte’s brutal security policy,” their statement said. “This new law grants the Philippine government unchecked power to define terrorism and extrajudicially punish its citizenry. Under the ATL, Philippine law enforcement is authorized to execute unwarranted arrests, a strategy intended to brutalize and silence political opposition.”
The Malaya statement also demanded that the “U.S. representatives in Texas champion and pass the Philippine Human Rights Act (PHRA) and release an official condemnation of the Anti-Terror Law,” and that they work to “halt all United States weapons and military equipment sales to the Philippines which are used against Filipino people.”