‘Tourism, commerce to surge once terror law takes effect’

MANILA — Tourism and commerce are expected to surge once peace and prosperity in the countryside is restored with the implementation of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 9372, otherwise known as the Human Security Act of 2007.

Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye pointed this out today as he noted the lackluster showing of tourism and commerce in the provinces due to terrorism.

“The implementation of the Human Security Act will restore peace in the countryside where tourism and commerce are held hostage to evil designs of terrorists,” he said in a statement.

Bunye was reacting to criticisms that the new law, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last March 6 to give more teeth to the anti-terror drive, is liable to abuse.

The new law is set to be implemented on July 15.

Rather than criticize the government for lapses in a new law that has yet to be implemented, Bunye urged the public to join hands in fighting terror.

“A single strike of a terrorist costs millions (of pesos) in lost lives, damaged properties, and fear that keeps investors, tourists and other foreign guests away,” he noted. “The cost is simply too high for us to maintain a status quo where deterrence, protection and justice are not strong enough to ensure our people’s safety.”

He assured the public and the legislators that the Human Security Act will not be used against members of the opposition and civil society “who air their views in the spirit of democracy which we all commit to nurture and uphold.”

No less than President Arroyo assured in the just-concluded Mindanao Peace and Security Summit in Cagayan de Oro City that the rights of every citizen would be respected.

“We must invest in peace and order,” she said. “Crime is down in the nation because we have made investments to put more policemen on the street.”

The President stressed that the political terrorists who live outside the boundaries of human justice and who have marked the stability of the nation and the rule of law for extinction live by no moral code.

“They lack all humanity and concern for people,” she stressed.