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Filipinos and allies protested in front of the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco on July 27, condemning Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s vague new anti-terror law and saying it will suppress free speech and dissent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On July 3, Duterte signed the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, defining terrorism broadly and allowing suspects of \u201cterrorism\u201d to be surveilled or detained up to 24 days without warrant. Those convicted could even face life imprisonment without parole. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amnesty International has spoken out against the legislation, along with other human rights organizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bayan USA and the Malaya Movement organized this year\u2019s People\u2019s State of the Nation (PSONA) rallies in cities across the country, in response to Duterte\u2019s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the Philippines earlier that day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery year, we also come out to really deliver, what is the true people\u2019s state of the nation, to counter this false narrative \u2026 that the country is doing well, that he\u2019s eliminating poverty, that he\u2019s fighting COVID \u2026 that\u2019s not the case,\u201d said Adrian Bonifacio, emcee for the event and a member of student organization Anakbayan USA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe see [the anti-terror law] as a tool which will be used to attack people who are critical of the government,\u201d said Malaya Arevalo, a member of the National Secretariat of the Malaya Movement, who claimed the law goes against the Filipino people\u2019s constitutional rights. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sab Leung, a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was in the crowd with Gabriela, a grassroots Filipino women\u2019s organization. Leung worried the new law \u201churts activists, or people that protest, it hurts free speech\u2014if you say anything or even post a meme, you could automatically be deemed a terrorist.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several speakers criticized the law\u2019s granting of extraterritorial jurisdiction to the Philippine National Police (PNP), allowing police to enforce laws on Philippine citizens anywhere in the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Justher Gutierrez, regional coordinator of the Malaya Movement, called for transparency about the PNP\u2019s operations at the consulate. PNP officers have been stationed at the San Francisco consulate since 2018 as part of the Global Police Community Relations program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe demand to know if we are being surveilled. We already have our pictures taken regularly by the Philippine consulate \u2026 We demand to know what happens to these pictures,\u201d Gutierrez said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the heavy issues at hand, people were cheerful, chanting and dancing along to the beat of drummers in the crowd. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna move, because we\u2019re gonna find some joy in this,\u201d a woman with a megaphone called out while dancing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to organizers, over 300 protesters gathered on foot and bicycle, while over 80 cars caravanned through the city to meet them on Sutter Street, crowding into the block between Stockton and Powell, dressed in red or waving flags. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In addition to chants about junking the new law and ousting Duterte from office, protesters adapted a Black Lives Matter rallying cry to their cause: \u201cNo justice, no peace; stop the killings in the Philippines!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Duterte\u2019s four years as president, he has drawn global attention for his pledge to kill criminals. Since he took office in 2016, thousands have been killed by police and vigilantes in the name of a war on drugs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights\u2019 report, the Philippine government suggests 8,663 people killed since July 2016, but police also have estimates around 30,000 labelled as \u201cdeaths under inquiry.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report said better accounting and investigation into these killings is required under international human rights law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
San Francisco Supervisor Matt Haney said the Philippine government uses \u201cthe label of terror\u201d against people \u201cstanding up and fighting for their rights.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Haney recalled visiting the Philippines last year after San Francisco journalist and Indigenous rights activist Brandon Lee was shot multiple times, in what many believe was an extrajudicial assassination attempt by the government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A statement from Lee, who remains paralyzed in the Richmond District with his family, was read aloud saying, \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned and convinced that the bullets that almost killed me were funded by U.S. tax dollars and U.S. military aid to the Philippines.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, a $2 billion arms deal being discussed between the U.S. and the Philippines is feared will only enable Duterte\u2019s violence against Filipinos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lee encouraged listeners to support the Philippine Human Rights Act, which would suspend U.S. aid to the Philippines until \u201chuman rights violations by Philippine security forces cease and the responsible state forces are held accountable.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n