(Eagle News)–Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV thumbed down the proposal for a prolonged allowable detention of up to 60 days for arrested terror suspects.
According to Trillanes, who now teaches in two universities, “in truth, we should be protected from [President Rodrigo] Duterte first.”
He noted the estimated 30,000 deaths under the Duterte administration’s campaign illegal drugs, a number he said was “way more deaths than any terrorist has inflicted in history.”
“What makes them believe they can locate and apprehend terrorists through that amendment?” Trillanes said, alleging that the government “can’t even locate and apprehend the riding in tandem killers and Duterte’s kumpare drug lords on the loose.”
Trillanes also questioned the government’s motive in pushing for the amendment when it is “summarily killing ‘suspected’ addicts [for] the past three years.”
He said that while the police force was given subpoena powers in 2017 to investigate crime, “it was only used against the political opposition and critics.”
“There is already martial law in Mindanao and yet the security forces weren’t able to prevent bombings in Basilan and Sulu,” Trillanes said, noting that the proper use of intelligence funds, inter-agency cooperation, intel exchanges with foreign intelligence units and vigilance of the public are among the “keys to effective anti-terror operations.
“Even granting that the anti-terror law should need to be strengthened, it should only happen under an Administration that has clearly demonstrated its desire to protect its people,” he said.
