Senator Manny Pacquiao said he would not permit authorities to take advantage of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 if elected as president.
“’Yan pong terror law ay kung naabuso po ay bakit payagan natin. Amyendahan natin nang hindi maabuso. Pero kung naabuso ang karapatan ng bawat tao ay bakit natin papayagan,” Pacquiao said during the Peace and the Presidentiables Forum.
Pacquiao was one of the senators who approved the anti-terror bill. Then, President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law in July 2020.
A total of 37 petitions against the said law were filed, making it one of the most challenged laws in the Supreme Court.
In December 2021, the Supreme Court declared two parts of the controversial law — a qualifier in Section 4 and the second paragraph of Section 25 of Republic Act 11479 — as unconstitutional . Ronald Espartinez