CSOs WARY ADDITIONAL “TERROR” LAWS MAY CLOSE CIVIC SPACE

The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) and the Defend NGOs Alliance strongly opposes the legislation of additional bills that would fortify the legal infrastructure against human rights defenders (HRDs), civil society organizations (CSOs), and development workers. Three proposed legislations pending in Congress will pose even more danger for CSOs and HRDs. 

The “Anti-Fake News and Disinformation Act” or House Bill (HB) 2697 and its parallel version Senate Bill (SB) 1380 gives the government power to dictate what is considered true and censor critical speech. HB 2697 contains overbroad definitions of fake news and disinformation, penalizing “false” content that has influence on public perception and policies, even prohibiting those that “discredits democratic institutions” and that interferes with government affairs like the elections. The bill, if enacted, could stifle public discourses on important political events, allowing no room for expressing analysis and opinions. 

The Anti-Fake News and Disinformation legislation is included in the 20th Congress agenda by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC).  

The “Foreign Influence and Interference Act of 2025” or HB 1068 legalizes surveillance of foreign-funded CSOs. Under the guise of protection against foreign intelligence forces, it creates a registry of organizations that is accessible to law enforcement agencies and bypasses privacy and speech rights. Its counterpart bill at the Senate is SB 862.

The “Terror Grooming Prevention Act of 2025” or SB 1366 criminalizes grassroots organizing and advocacy work. SB 1366 contains vague provisions that dangerously frame civic campaigns and community work as “radicalization.” The bill alleges that this eventually leads to “terrorist recruitment,” which shows blatant disregard for people’s legitimate practice of freedom of expression and ignorance of the social realities they face. 

If passed into law, CSOs fear further escalation of attacks and violations to people’s rights and may eventually lead to closing of civic space in the country. The current state of human rights in the country puts the Philippines at the category of repressive civic space as of 2025 by the CIVICUS - an alliance of CSOs and activists that works together towards strengthening citizen action and civil society across the globe. 

Currently the misuse of the “twin terror” laws - Republic Act No. 11479 or Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) and Republic Act No. 10168 or Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act (TFPSA) resulted in judicial attacks on CSOs, HRDs, development and humanitarian workers, including journalists. Instead of enhancing “national security”, these laws have been utilized in ways that curtailed fundamental constitutional rights.

"What is alarming is the continual expansion of 'terror' concepts untethered from both constitutional safeguards and established legal standards. We now have proposals like 'terror grooming’—a vague and dangerous label with no basis in domestic or international law—that will criminalize freedom of thought, and with it, dissent, advocacy, and political beliefs. At the same time, courts continue dismissing terrorism financing cases for lack of evidence and for fundamental legal defects, as in the recent CERNET ruling. Instead of addressing these abuses, the response is the creation of even broader and more punitive laws," says Atty. Josalee Deinla, Secretary General and National Spokesperson of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL). 

“Laws should not be weaponized against civilians, HRDs, and CSOs alike. They should be used instead to advance national development. The misuse of the laws supposedly intended to safeguard people and national security weakens trust in institutions and undermines the rule of law,” says Jazmin Jerusalem, Defend NGOs Alliance National Spokesperson. 

Jerusalem herself has been accused of three counts of terrorism financing which were eventually dismissed. A civil forfeiture case was also filed against her and three other staff of the Leyte Center for Development (LCDe). While the court already ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to unfreeze the accounts of Jerusalem, LCDe staff and their families, their bank accounts and assets remain frozen.

Despite these challenges, Jerusalem, the LCDe staff and many other similarly affected CSOs and development workers persist in challenging these attacks and vilification through legal means, advocacy, and assertion of their rights.

CPDG and the Defend NGOs Alliance strongly urges a comprehensive and impartial assessment of the implementation of the “twin terror” laws. Stronger safeguards against abuse of these laws, and accountability for violations and curtailment of people’s rights should be implemented. They likewise strongly appeal against the passage of the additional bills that would further repress and eventually close civic space. 

In place of these punitive proposals, we call for the passage of the “Human Rights Defenders Protection Act” or HB 214 and the “Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Act” or SB 540 as these legislations would help build the legal protection of human rights defenders and safeguard human rights work. We urge our policymakers to heed these calls and put an end to this pattern of surveillance, violence and impunity. National security should not be pursued at the expense of the very freedoms it is meant to uphold.#