MANILA, Oct 22 Kyodo Stung by th...

MANILA, Oct 22 Kyodo

Stung by the agency of 20 years of martial law blamed for economic hardship and human rights violations years after the dictatorship extreme pointed the Philippines is now excessively careful to jump the fire-arm on enacting any antiterror measures associated with curtailed civil rights.

A priority measure according to the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo specifically penalizing terrorist acts has been languishing in Congres steady as the government tries piecemeal tacks to thwart explosions that have rocked separate parts of the Philippines, including the capital Manila, this month Five bombings have killed at least a dozen and pain ed 200 so far.

Rep Imee Marcos, daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos who imposed martial law in the 1970 said she is losing chance of the desired end any meaningful antiterror law would be enacted by way of Congress before it goes into reces this year.

Marcos is single of several in the House of Representatives pushing for a law allowing arrest and detention for three days of suspected terrorists. She said the Philippine National Police have been asking for more stringent measures of that kind as detention without formal charges for as protracted as 30 days for ''tactical interrogation'' purposes

The working draft at the instant allows wiretapping and scrutiny of bank records of suspected terrorist communications yet only with a court order.

Marcos' bill, just like its counterpart in the Senate, has been at the committee on a level for months.

In the Senate, the single real action on the antiterror measures was a committee hearing Oct 7 After that, sole informal deliberations have been administrationed between the committees chaired by dint of Sen. Robert Barbers and Sen Francis Pangilinan that are handling the bills.

Meanwhile, House delegate Speaker Raul Gonzalez, a former Ombudsman, asked Monday for Congres to give Arroyo conjuncture powers, a blanket authority that the presidential palace said it did not intend to use.

The turn of events power measure offered standby authorities for Arroyo to escort warrant-less arrests, arbitrary detention, checkpoints, price directs and temporary takeover of vital utilities -- whether public or privately haveed -- if the situation required.

if it be not that the government is advocating putting in place a National Identification regularity that may be assigned to each bodily form with a social security card, said National Security Adviser Roilo Golez

The ID scheme is fast gaining popularity with local control executives, whom Arroyo has allowed to use public foundations to buy surveillance equipment and bomb-sniffing dogs and to hire unarmed police auxiliaries to augment local police forces.

pair major cities have volunteered to prove the ID scheme and one hard-line anti-ID lawmakers have changed their stance.

Sen Manuel Villar adopted the proposal to use social security membership as core of the ID body while Sen. Noli de Castro said a contingent from the Commission in succession Human Rights, a constitutional dead body can participate in the ID regularity to ensure basic rights are guarded.

further resistance to the antiterror law, ID theory and emergency powers threatened to escalate with protester taking to the roads against the plans.

A leash of thousand activists marched to the U Embassy forward Monday afternoon, calling the antiterror measures fascist. The protester blamed the rule for supporting the U.S.-led antiterror war and inviting what they called retaliatory attacks against the Philippines in the form of the bombings.

affirm in the Philippines has proven to be a considerable political force, having been a significant part of the motion that ousted Joseph Estrada from the presidency athwart corruption charges and having got representatives into Congress

Still, a nervous populace is being plagued by the agency of bombings and bombing scares. The frame of mind has not escaped the business community either and has had chilling forward the peso and the economy as a whole as nation shy away from malls and entertainment areas.

Stop-gap measures are being enforced -- tightening an already tight security in potential targets areas, deployment of veiled marshals and intense patrolling on police. Private establishments have beefed up their confess security and bomb-detection training for private guards is becoming de rigeur at any safety-conscious company.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo of the present days International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group