NEWSPhilippine military supports enactment of anti-terror bill
MANILA, March 6 (Xinhua) -- The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Tuesday that terrorist attacks in the country would be reduced after enactment of the National Security Act or the anti-terror law.
"That is one of the objectives why we are having the anti-terror bill," AFP spokesman Bartolome Bacarro said when asked if the law would cause the reduction of terrorist attacks.
"It would in a way empower, give more teeth to our law enforces in preventing as well as investigating anything related to terror," Bacarro told a press conference at the military headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, referring the new measure.
Bacarro added that the military would strictly abide by the provisions of the law. "It guarantees that anybody who would abuse this bill would be subjected to investigations," he said.
The compromised anti-terrorism bill was enacted into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday afternoon. Armed Forces chief of staff Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said earlier that although the bill is not as strong as the military wants it to be, it is better than nothing at all.
Philippine government forces are battling a number of terrorist groups in the country, including the Abu Sayyaf and the Southeast Asian regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah.