Duterte’s Anti-Terror Act: Five years of terrorizing the people
It’s been five years since Rodrigo Duterte signed the sweeping fascist Anti-Terror Act (ATA) that effectively criminalized dissent and legalized political repression.
Malaya Movement USA along with many other advocacy groups widely criticized the ATA for the dangers it posed to activists and human rights defenders who’d already been subjected to the Duterte regime’s relentless attacks.
The ATA along with the Noynoy Aquino-era Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA) are used to target advocates and human rights defenders.
Since 2020, Karapatan reports at least:
227 charged with violating the ATA and the TFPSA
34 peace consultants, personalities of the revolutionary movement, and indigenous peoples leaders and advocates have been arbitrarily designated as “terrorists”
30 more have become political prisoners
At least 3 have been forcibly disappeared
Duterte’s rabid fascism has extended into Marcos Jr.’s term. Within the last few months, Marcos Jr. has rebranded his counterinsurgency program as the deceptive National Action Plan for Unity, Peace, and Development (NAP-UPD) that’s being implemented by the Duterte-created National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). This rebrand aims to hide the fact that, under Marcos Jr, martial law is in effect in the countryside and the ATA and TFPSA are used to suppress the progressive movement in cities.
As fascism all over the world continues to ramp up and those of us in the United States are feeling its grip tighten under Trump’s regime, it is imperative that we continue to build collective power to resist it. We must see the connections between fascism in our homeland and what is happening here in the US.
There is a critical role we play as Filipinos in the diaspora to hold the Dutertes and the Marcoses accountable for their crimes against our people. Join the resistance and fight fascism: malayamovement.com/join
Labanan ang pasismo! Biguin ang mga pasista ng estado!
Fight fascism! Defeat the state fascists!
Duterte panagutin! Marcos singilin!
Junk the Anti-Terror Act!
Abolish the NTF-ELCAC!
