There's a new AFP Chief in town and he aims to do the same as all his predecessors which is to clean up this town good. First priority: the IRR for the new anti-terror law.
NEW Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Chief of Staff Gilbert Gapay on Monday, August 3, 2020, vowed that the military will prioritize the implementation of the recently passed Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.
In a press conference after the turnover of command ceremony, Gapay said they were proposing the inclusion of social media regulations in the law’s Implementing rules and regulations.
He noted that terrorist groups are taking advantage of social media to radicalize the youth and plan their attacks.
"We will be providing some inputs on countering violent extremism and likewise maybe even regulating social media. This is the platform now being used by the terrorists to radicalize and even plan terrorist acts," Gapay said.
"That's why we need to have specific provisions in the IRR pertaining to regulating the use of social media and, of course, likewise regulating materials in the manufacture of IEDs," he added.
He said he will also suggest the strengthening of information sharing between the AFP and the local and foreign counterparts as terrorism is a worldwide problem.
Gapay also noted the strengthening of maritime security to prevent foreign terrorists from entering the country.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the law’s IRR is still a work in progress but he assured that they will consider the proposal of the AFP.
The suggestions to share information with foreign and local counterparts as well as strengthening maritime security are no brainers but the suggestion to regulate social media caused a firestorm of response. Some said that this was in fact what they had warned would happen. However DND Secretary Lorenzana put all the controversy to rest when he said they would not be regulating social media.
"No, the ATL should not regulate social media. It is not part of its mandate and it would violate freedom of speech and discourse," he said in a message to reporters.
"I asked Gen. Gapay yesterday (Tuesday) what he meant because I was likewise surprised to hear him say it during our (press conference) after he was installed as CSAFP. He said his explanation was incomplete. According to him, he meant the darknet, that clandestine network that peddles drugs, traffic people, sells guns and explosives, hire assassins and other illegal activities," he added.
Lorenzana, however, said even this side of the internet is difficult to regulate as it operates underground illegally.
Meanwhile, AFP spokesperson, Marine Maj. Gen. Edgard Arevalo said what Gapay meant by "regulating" is looking for the need to explore mechanisms by which would ensure that social media will not be used as a convenient tool to promote terrorism, recruit new members, solicit and generate financial, logistical, and material support from domestic and foreign sources.
"This seeks to prevent and avoid a repetition of the tragic experiences our people have suffered in the past from the hands of terrorists which have resulted to countless and senseless deaths of innocent citizens or their serious physical injuries, the deliberate massive destruction of vital government infrastructures and public properties which translated to billions of pesos of worth of losses of taxpayers' money," he added in a media statement.
New AFP Chief Gapay gave two different
explanations
of what he meant by regulating social media. Lorenzana says he meant the dark web which is impossible
to regulate while
AFP spokesperson Maj. Gen. Arevalo gave a more expected answer about making sure social media is not used a as a tool to promote terrorism.
A few days later a third Gapay offered a third explanation.
In an interview with CNN Philippines late Friday, Gapay said the military does not aim to curtail the freedom of expression of social media users.
“What I mean by that is to regulate and put order on the social media platforms, not the users per se,” the AFP chief said.
“They can upload whatever they want. But, what I’m saying is to regulate the platforms on the content that they allow to be uploaded in the platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and similar platforms,” he said.
So Gapay wants the IRR for the ATL to regulate
social media platforms
? That is an absolutely
nonsensical
explanation
. The fact is no government anywhere in the world regulates these companies. Gapay should
read what Mark Zuckberg has to say about regulating his company.
If the government were to regulate social media companies a new law would be required. The implementing rules and regulations deal only with how a law is to be implemented. No wonder Lorenzana advised AFP Chief Gapay to talk less.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Monday that he had urged the new Philippine military chief to follow the "less talk, less mistake" tact after the latter drew criticism for a proposal to use the anti-terror law to regulate social media.
"Sabi ko nga sa kanya (I told him), if you are not sure of your answer, then do not answer. Sabihin mo (tell them), 'I’ll find out, I’ll research.' Less talk, less mistake," he said.
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/10/20/defense-chief-tells-new-military-chief-less-talk-less-mistake
The DOJ says they expect writing the IRR to be finished out within 90 days.
"I believe that we can finish the IRR within the 90-day period provided under the anti-terrorism law," Guevarra said in a message to reporters.
He said the DOJ legal team has started drafting the IRR of Republic Act 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA) which President Rodrigo Duterte signed last July 3.
“We shall consult our law enforcement and military institutions as we go along. We shall also coordinate with intelligence agencies for inputs. Then, we'll present an initial draft to the anti-terrorism council for consideration," he said.
Guevarra, however, said it is "too early to say" whether the inclusion of provisions for social media will be included in the IRR draft.
Solicitor General Jose Calida earlier said RA 11479 is already in effect even if the government has yet to craft its IRR.
Calida, citing precedent cases previously decided on by the Supreme Court, such as SEC v. IRC decided in 2008, said laws are not contingent on the implementing rules.
If the law is not contingent on implementing rules then why bother crafting them? Why add to the law? What is the point? The new AFP Chief admits that the AFP made significant gains against the insurgency in the first six months of this year without a new anti-terror law.
"For the first half of the year we have, the AFP has posted collectively significant gains in our battle against internal security threats, the CPP-NPA (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People's Army) and of course the local terrorist groups composed of Abu Sayyaf, the BIFF (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters), (and) factions of the Dawlah Islamiyah which are besetting the development and progress of our country," he said during a virtual press briefing Monday.
Gapay said the main focus of the AFP now is to continue degrading the capabilities of these armed threat groups so that the country can establish an environment conducive for sustainable development.
"So we will focus our strength and might in really defeating these internal threat groups and at the same time contributing to the development efforts of the national government to again revive and start and push for sustainable growth of our country," he added.
With thousands of NPA, BIFF, and ASG terrorists surrendering and as well as scores of the same dead the AFP appears to be doing just fine without the new law. Perhaps the first to be charged under this new law will be Haroon Basher.
The city police arrested on Thursday a Pakistani national that they described as a suspected bomb maker who has been under intelligence surveillance.
The foreign national was identified as Haroon Basher, a Pakistani who has apparently been living in the city for the last seven years and has a Filipina girlfriend and several local friends.
Basher was arrested in his rented house in Atis Road, Dacillo Compound, Barangay San Jose by members of the city police who had with them a search warrant issued by a local judge.
Found inside the residence of Basher, according to the police, were two improvised explosives and a .45 caliber pistol. The two explosives were apparently small enough that EOD personnel decided to explode them right away, one along the roadside in front of the house and one at the backyard.
The man claims his innocence
and the article says nothing about what he has been charged with. However since he has been under surveillance for some time there should be plenty of evidence to charge him and his associates under the new anti-terrorism law.
New soldiers are being told to wipe out the NPA in the eastern Visayas.
The Philippine Army in Eastern Visayas has asked its 151 new soldiers to actively take part in wiping out the decades-old insurgency in the region by 2022.
During the closing ceremony in Catbalogan City, Samar on Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Pio Diñoso III, commander of the Army’s 8th Infantry Division said the new batch of soldiers is lucky to see the dwindling force of the New People’s Army (NPA) in the region.
“You became soldiers at the time when we are about to finish the internal security concern. Be proud that you are part of the division that will wipe out insurgency in Eastern Visayas. You still have the chance to see the enemy eye to eye and convince them to surrender,” Diñoso told the new soldiers comprising batch 633-2020.
The Philippine Army is optimistic to make the region insurgency-free by 2022 after a series of successful operations that dismantled two NPA guerrilla fronts in Leyte.
Still ongoing is the dismantling of two guerrilla fronts operating in San Jose de Buan, Matuguinao, Motiong, Paranas, Basey, Marabut, and Sta. Rita in Samar.
It sounds good that the Army thinks they can make the region insurgency free by 2022 but remember what that term means. It does not mean zero insurgents.
“Insurgency-free”, according to Luga, means that they have received no more reports of armed men in the province.
Insurgency free means that there are no reports of insurgents in the area, not that there are no insurgents in the area. Perhaps the AFP has redefined insurgency to mean zero insurgents. If they haven't they will only remain stuck in the cycle which allows the NPA to recruit to regrow once the military has let down their guard by giving the area over to LGUs.
For those villages which have been cleared of the communist threat the government has allotted billions for various projects.
The government will allot over P45 billion worth of various projects to thousands of villages cleared of communist threat, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon has said.
He said 1,431 barangays would receive programs and projects amounting to P45,935,704,998, a development program of the government to alleviate the sufferings of communities whose livelihood had been severely affected by the presence and harassment of New People’s Army.
“President Rodrigo Duterte, in his State of the Nation Address on July 27, underscored the government efforts in attaining internal peace and security, citing the endeavor as an intervention, and implement projects already cleared of influence of Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army,” Esperon said.
Aside from the 1,431 barangays, some 2,379 threatened barangays will also receive government projects, a package which is part of the government Barangay Development Program.
The DBP projects include farm-to-market roads that will be implemented both by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Works and Highways; and school buildings by Department of Education; water and sanitation by the Local Government.
The other projects include national greening and reforestation program by the Department of Natural Resources; health stations by the Department Health; raising of livestocks, crops, and fisheries by the Agricultural Department.
Esperon said communities freed of NPA influence would be accorded electrification by the DOE; internet connectivity; and capacity-building activities by the Department of Trade, Department of Labor and TESDA.
The funds intended for the projects will be sourced from the budget of the agencies spearheading the projects in coordination with local chief executives.
Roads, school buildings, water and sanitation, electricity and the internet, health stations, and aid to raise livestock and crops? This is stuff the government should have done long ago. Of course the commies burn the equipment used to construct such projects.
The Philippine Army has deployed troops to secure a government road project in Sarangani province after soldiers on foot patrol foiled an attempt by communist rebels to burn construction equipment last Wednesday, a military official said.
Lt. Col. Allen Van Estrera, commander of the Army’s 37th Infantry Battalion, said soldiers were now guarding the project in Barangay Bales of Maasim town to ensure its uninterrupted work.
According to Estrera, the company contracted to undertake the project received a demand from the New People’s Army (NPA) operating in the area for “protection money.”
When it refused to give in, the NPA guerrillas threatened to exact “punishment” on the construction firm, Estrera explained.
On Wednesday, soldiers on foot patrol foiled a group of 10 armed men who were carrying containers of gasoline as they approached a parked backhoe and several dump trucks of Cherifer Builders at around 7 p.m.
A brief battle ensued before the armed men fled, Estrera said.
This is all part of the whole-of-nation approach.
"In addressing all these security challenges, the Whole-of-Nation-Approach', we will continue implementing that, we will continue collaborating, linking with our agencies (and other partners)," Gapay said during the virtual press briefing shortly after his assumption ceremony Monday.
He added the "Whole-of-Nation-Approach" is a comprehensive response as it involves everyone.
"(It is a) all hands on deck (approach), all force multipliers will be involved in addressing all these security challenges confronting our country," Gapay said.
It's pretty sad that roads, electricity, school buildings, and water and sanitation facilities are held out as rewards to villages which are communist free. Without these basic modern utilities it's no wonder much of the Philippines remains backward and behind the times.
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