RA 11479: What are its salient points?

Editor’s Note: The Supreme Court, during its en banc session last December 7, 2021, upheld the constitutionality of the majority of the provisions of RA 11479, otherwise known as the ‘Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.’

It goes without saying that among provisions of the law that is also upheld by the Supreme Court is the creation of the ‘Anti-Terrorism Council’ (ATC) under Section 45, including its activities and authority to designate an individual and an organization as “terrorists.”

Thus, the ATC’s designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, National Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF), including their agents, officials and members is now valid, legal and binding to all law-abiding citizens and all law enforcement agencies.

Following the SC ruling, below are the provisions of RA 11479 that are enforceable under RA 11479 and other related Philippine laws, which are punishable with a prison term of between 12 years and life sentence without benefit of parole, as provided for in the specific provisions of the law:

• Giving “material support” to terrorists, defined as, any property, tangible or intangible, or service, including currency or monetary instruments or financial securities, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel (one or more individuals who may be or include oneself), and transportation (Section 3, Paragraph “e” and Section 12);
• Mere “proposal” to commit terrorism as defined under Section 4 (Section 3, Paragraph “g”);
• Recruitment/encouragement to other people “to join a terrorist individual or organization, association or group of persons proscribed under Section 26 (Section 3, Paragraph “h” and Section 10);
• Providing training on terrorism (Section 3, Paragraph “k”);
• Planning, Training, Preparing, and Facilitating the Commission of Terrorism (Section 6);
• Conspiracy to Commit Terrorism (Section 7);
• Proposal to Commit Terrorism (Section 8);
• Inciting to commit terrorism by “means of speeches, proclamations, writings, emblems, banners or other representations tending to the same end (Section 9); Section 10
• Facilitating the travel and recruitment of Filipinos and other foreigners to other designated foreign terrorist organizations; Publishing an advertisement or propaganda for the purpose of recruiting persons to serve in any capacity in or with such an armed force;
• Voluntarily and knowingly joining designated terrorist organizations;
• Being an “accessory” to the commission of terrorist acts (Section 14).
• Participation of public officials in terrorist groups and terrorist acts is punishable by dismissal from the service, with the accessory penalties of cancellation of civil service eligibility, forfeiture of retirement benefits and perpetual absolute disqualification from running for any elective office or holding any public office (Section 15);
• Court approval to conduct wiretapping against terrorist suspects (Section 16); such court-sanctioned wiretapping can last for 60 days (Section 19); the result of the wiretapping shall be under court custody within 48 hours after the expiration of the activity. Any person who tampers with the wiretapping result shall be imprisoned for 10 years (Section 20);
• Request for proscription of Terrorist Organizations, Association, or Group of Persons shall be initiated by the Department of Justice before the Court of Appeals (Section 26);
• Detention Without Judicial Warrant of Arrest is allowed from a minimum of 14 days to a maximum of 24 days (Section 29);
• The ‘Miranda Rights and right to counsel of detained suspects shall not be denied (Section 30);
• Torture of suspects is not allowed (Section 33);
• Limitation to right to travel, including house arrest of terrorist suspects is allowed (Section 34);
• The Anti-Money Laundering Council is empowered to look into the bank transactions of terrorist suspects and suspected terrorist groups (Section 35) and freezing of bank account from a period of 20 days up to 6 months is allowed, including forfeiture of assets (Section 36);
• The creation of the Anti-Terrorism Council is legal (Section 45), including all its activities related to the effective implementation of RA 11479 (Section 46);
• Terrorist suspects caught in the Philippines cannot be imprisoned in other countries (Section 48) under the principle of extraordinary rendition (as practiced by the United States and other Western countries);
• Extraterritorial application. Filipinos and other individuals committing terrorist acts in the Philippines and in other countries are covered by the law (Section 49);

What are considered terrorist acts under Section 4?

Under Section 4, the following are upheld by the Supreme Court as terrorist acts:

Acts that are: intended to cause death or serious bodily injury to any person, or endangers a person’s life; intended to cause extensive damage or destruction to a government or public facility, public place or private property; interference with, damage or destruction to critical infrastructure; develops, manufactures, possesses, acquires, transports, supplies or uses weapons, explosives or of biological, nuclear, radiological or chemical weapons; and, release of’ dangerous substances, or causing fire, floods or explosions;

Purpose of terrorist acts:

To intimidate the general public or a segment thereof, create an atmosphere or spread a message of fear, to provoke or influence by intimidation the government or any international organization, or seriously destabilize or destroy the fundamental political, economic, or social structures of the country, or create a public emergency or seriously undermine public safety.