THE DUTERTE REGIME is railroading the enactment of more repressive amendments to the Human Security Act (HSA) or the Anti-Terror Law, and Mandatory ROTC for senior high school students before the 17th Congress closes. The bill on Mandatory Military Service is also being prepared for the opening of the Duterte-dominated 18th Congress.

The amendments to the HSA aim to obscure the definition of terrorism. Suspicion alone can justify surveillance, arrest and detention for two weeks. By expanding the definition, even rallies and strikes can be considered terrorism. Democratic sectors stood up against such provisions since 2007.

Meanwhile, the ROTC is being railroaded to strengthen military domination in various social aspects, including education. The course will instill militarism among the youth to make them docile.

Duterte is railroading the enactment of these bills so that he can immediately use these to suppress the impoverished and enraged people, and weild his power to establish his dictatorship.

Anti-endo. Workers from the Zagu Foods Corporation launched a protest last June 6 in front of the company office in Barangay Kapitolyo, Pasig City. The workers are are demanding an end to the “Endo” (end-of-contract) scheme and the company’s failure to compensate them with benefits. The company has also successively harassed their union.