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. 

Malaya Movement USA denounces the Salaknib military exercises, which will be followed by the yearly Balikatan war games on April 21. These yearly war games have proven to be expensive, destructive to the environment and disruptive to the livelihood of peasants, farmers, and fisherfolk who reside in the areas where they happen. We strongly oppose Trump’s newly appointed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's visit to the Philippines, a pit stop in his Asia tour starting on March 28. Hegseth’s recent blunder in accidentally texting war plans to the media reveals the current US administration’s ineptitude and carelessness and does not bode well for the so-called “ironclad” partnership between the two countries.