Press Release
December 14, 2007

KIKO OPPOSES REVIVAL OF ANTI-SUBVERSION LAW
"We cannot employ tired and old methods and expect new and desired results... old methods will simply result in the problem of insurgency remaining unsolved... this will be the end result of the reimposition of this law... it does not solve the problem." --- KIKO

Senate Majority Leader and Independent Senator Kiko Pangilinan today criticized Malacanang after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said that she was supporting the revival of the "Anti-subversion Law" to help put an end to the communist insurgency.

Pangilinan stressed, "We cannot employ tired and old methods and expect new and desired results... old methods will simply result in the problem of insurgency remaining unsolved... this will be the end result of the reimposition of this law... it does not solve the problem.

The subversion law or Republic Act No. 1700 states that whoever knowingly, willfully and by overt acts affiliates himself with, becomes or remains a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines and/or its successor or of any subversive association shall be punished by the penalty of arresto mayor and shall be disqualified permanently from holding any public office, appointive and elective, and from exercising the right to vote.

The said law was repealed in 1992.

Arroyo vowed to get rid of the communist rebels before she steps down in 2010, regrettably her administration has been widely criticized for heavy-handed counterinsurgency tactics that, according to a UN human rights expert and advocacy groups, include extrajudicial killings and disappearances of left-wing activists, farmers and other critics.

The human rights group Karapatan says more than 800 people have been killed and nearly 200 others "disappeared" since 2001.

"The Anti-subversion law had been around 40 years... it didn't work... reviving it now won't make it work... poverty alleviation and sustained economic activity coupled with aggressive peace initiatives with all warring factions to end the root causes of poverty, dissent and injustice..." Kiko ended.

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