THE HOUSE of Representatives is rushing the passage of an anti-terror bill that provides stiffer penalties for terrorism and allows wiretapping of suspects' homes as a response to the armed conflict in Sulu province and the Valentine's Day bomb attacks in the cities of Makati, General Santos and Davao.

Maguindanao Representative Simeon Datumanong, chair of the House committee on justice, said it was working on the report on the public hearings conducted on the bill.

He said he expected the report to be completed and signed next month, after which it would be submitted to the committee on rules for scheduling for plenary deliberations.

"The committee takes note that this is a badly needed measure, but we'll have to observe due process," said Datumanong, a former justice secretary.

He said certain contentious issues in the report had yet to be ironed out, including the fear that the use of electronic surveillance could constitute invasion of privacy.

Eastern

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Samar Representative Marcelino Libanan, author of House Bill No. 2639 that seeks to define terrorism and provides stiffer penalties for it, said it was about time the chamber acted on the measure.

"This will show the world that we have not wavered in our anti-terror campaign, especially in light of the recent bombings in three urban centers," Libanan said.

HB 2639 also brings the crime of terrorism within the coverage of the Anti-Money Laundering Law, and seeks the creation of an Anti-Terrorist Action Council.

Climate of confidence

Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, chair of the House committee on national defense, said wiretapping was allowed in certain criminal cases, such as sedition and kidnapping, as long as there was a court order backing it.

Cebu Representative Antonio Cuenco, chair of the committee on foreign affairs, said the enactment of the anti-terror bill into law would indicate to the international community the Philippines' determination to end terrorism here.

He said the proposed law would also promote a "climate of confidence" here and encourage the US and British governments to lift their negative advisories regarding travel to the Philippines.

Cuenco said lawmakers should not wait for bigger terror attacks before acting on HB 2639.

"Apprehensions on the bill cannot be resolved unless lawmakers start deliberations on [it]. If we don't act now, we will be crying for revenge without giving the authorities all the weapons against the enemy," he said.

More teeth

In the upper chamber, Senator Panfilo Lacson called on Malacañang to certify as urgent a similar bill that he had filed so as to give the government "more teeth against terrorism."

He said Malacañang should also certify as urgent his two other measures involving the improvement of the government's capability to track down terrorists -- Senate Bill No. 845, which would require the registration of prepaid subscriber identification module (SIM) cards, and SB 833, which would implement a national identification system in the country.

The antiterrorism measure proposed by Lacson classifies as acts of terrorism "arson using poisonous substances to extort or bring about loss of lives or property, or destruction of industrial or business plants or of the environment, or to paralyze civil or military installations, communications, or power transmission lines."

The measure allows law enforcers to conduct electronic surveillance on suspected terrorists, and punishes anyone who reveals, tampers with or destroys the information gathered from the tapping.

"[The bomb attacks on Monday] should be a wake-up call for us to have an anti-terror bill passed," Lacson said.

Senator Alfredo Lim said it was about time Congress came up with an antiterrorism law in view of the Feb. 14 bombings.

Lim said he hoped that Senator Manuel Villar's committee on public order and illegal drugs would take up the matter soon.

Not the Abu Sayyaf

But Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel said the antiterrorism bill should be passed only in consideration of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, and not the Valentine's Day bombings here.

"[This is] because I am not sure that the [Monday] bombings were the handiwork of terrorists like the Abu Sayyaf," he told reporters.

Pimentel said the Abu Sayyaf was not capable of launching an organized attack such as what happened on Feb. 14, when bombs exploded almost simultaneously in three cities.

"The military claims the group is on the run, so how can it have the capacity to do that?" he said.

The senator also said the bombings reminded him of what happened immediately before the 1972 declaration of martial law by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

"We have to look back to our own history to learn," he said. "I'm not so sure that what happened on Feb. 14 should be used as a justification for an antiterrorism law."

Pimentel said that while he favored an antiterrorism law, "we must make sure that we are not panicked into enacting [it] without due consideration of what is really happening on the ground."

Asked who could be behind the Feb. 14 bombings, Pimentel said there were many groups that wanted to take advantage of the prevailing situation and that had their respective agenda.

"Judging from history, we cannot rule out that some renegade soldiers ... could have done that," he said.

ID system

Like Lacson, Interior Secretary Angelo Reyes is pushing for the implementation of a national ID system, a project that was shelved earlier and that militant groups had described as a threat to civil liberties.

In an interview with the Inquirer on Tuesday night, Reyes said a national ID system would not only "assist the government and the citizenry in transacting business" but also "enable the government to better monitor how services are being delivered to the people, and how [it] can better address their problems."

Earlier Tuesday night, Reyes spoke before the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. and announced his support for the ID system.

"We will push for it," he told the businessmen, saying such a system would expedite elections and business transactions.

Reyes also said upright citizens should have no reason to oppose such a system: "As they say, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear."

Earlier, then National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said such an ID system could be used to combat swindling and electoral fraud, and prevent terrorists from getting into the country on false identity papers.

But the Supreme Court had ruled that such a system posed "a clear and present danger" and would violate a person's right to privacy.

The ruling was in response to a proposal from then President Fidel Ramos that a national ID system be put in place.