But, in the end, they cannot negate the fact that those who oppose the bill do not trust President Rodrigo Duterte. A sizable number of House members from Mindanao, which is the petri dish where terrorism is cultured and bred, oppose the bill. Beyond the constitutional and technical infirmities of the bill, the principal problem against it redounds mainly to the issue of trust. Critics of the President who oppose the bill do not trust his government to act fairly. There is no way we can trust a constitutionally infirm Anti-Terrorism bill that is to be implemented by a President whose acts in the past it would consider as terrorism.

Source: Manila Times June 10, 2020 17:15 UTC