Senator Panfilo Lacson, one of the principal authors of the Anti-Terror bill, said the Department of Justice (DOJ) could advise President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the passage of the controversial bill.
Lacson said the bill’s approval in the House of Representatives could no longer be recalled even after at least 20 lawmakers retracted or changed their votes.
The proposed measure passed in the third and final reading at the Congress after President Duterte certified it as urgent.
“I don’t think (it can be recalled) because they have voted on it. It was passed on third and final reading, and I believe today, it’s going to be an enrolled bill to be submitted to Malacañang for the President to either veto or approve or just make it lapse into law after 30 days,” Lacson said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel.
He, however, said the DOJ could still advise Duterte to veto the Anti-Terror Bill “altogether.”
“The DOJ can still interfere by advising the President to veto the bill altogether. Because remember, this is not a revenue measure, nor is it a budget measure, so there’s no line-item veto here. Either the President vetoes the bill in whole, not in part, or he approves it,” Lacson said.
Also read: Quick facts: What is Anti-Terror Bill?
The senator also defended the bill saying, refuting accusations that there are “vagueness” that could open opportunities for abuse.
“There’s no vagueness in the crafting of the bill or in the definition of terrorism itself because it is clearly defined. There are delimitations. While we have included five acts that would constitute acts of terrorism, we made it very clear that the purpose of such acts by its nature and context, it should be taken into consideration,” he explained.
“And then at the latter part, we added a proviso that emphasizes the observance or adherence to the Bill of Rights,” he added.
Among the controversial sections of the Anti-Terrorism Bill are warrantless arrests and the abolition of the provision of the Human Security Act of 2007, which provides P500,000 damages per day to any terrorist suspect who is found to be innocent.