By RAYMUND B. VILLANUEVA
Kodao Productions/Bulatlat.com
Operating a “sari-sari” (variety store) has become a dangerous occupation, an owner now being accused of using her small community convenience store to finance groups the government has designated as “terrorist.”
Marcylyn Pilala, an indigenous woman from Gueday, Besao, Mountain Province is being accused by the Ilocos Region police as having violated the controversial Terrorism Financing Prevention and Suppression Act of 2012 (TFPSA, Republic Act 10168) by allegedly allowing New People’s Army (NPA) members to buy from her store.
Cordillera women’s alliance Innabuyog and its Mountain Province chapter Binnadang in a joint statement said they condemn the “unfounded accusations” against Pilala, calling the charges against her “absurd.”
“A disturbing pattern has emerged in the Philippines, where [professed] former members of designated ‘terrorist’ groups such as the (NPA), testify against individuals or organizations after their [surrender]. These testimonies often serve as the basis for charges,” the groups said.
The Anti-Terrorism Council tried to designate the NPA, along with the Communist Party of the Philippines, as a so-called terrorist organization, in a petition but was rejected by a Manila Regional Trial Court decision in September 2022.
Reported surrenderer couple Victor and Karen Baltazar alleged Pilala allowed her store to be a source of food stuff, medicine and other goods for the revolutionary army.
“This absurd accusation is an example of the dangerous trend where laws meant to prevent terrorism financing are being used against innocent civilians,” the women’s groups said.
TFPSA defines terrorism financing as possession, provision, collection or use of property funds, financial or related services for the commission of any terrorist act.
The law, along with the equally controversial Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, is being criticized by civil society organizations as having a very vague definition of “terrorism” that endangers even Constitutionally-guaranteed human rights and freedoms.
Pilala, while an activist, is not a terrorism financier, the groups said. She is a former substitute public school teacher and a farmer who, like hundreds of thousands of Filipinos, augments their income by operating a sari-sari, they added.
“Her small sari-sari store, a common source of livelihood in rural areas, has been twisted into supposed evidence of terrorism financing. A modest livelihood is now being criminalized,” Innabuyog and Binnadang said.
Both organizations said Pilala is being harassed because she was among those who opposed a proposed wind energy facility in their ancestral domain.
In her student days, Pilala also served as president of the Mountain Province Youth Alliance (MPYA) that advocates for the rights and welfare of indigenous youth.
Read: Mountain Province folks demand justice for slain Bontoc student
Pilala’s case, while unusual, is not an isolated incident but a part of a “disturbing pattern” of suppression using the Anti-Terrorism and the TFPSA, Innabuyog and Ginnadang said.
“These laws, introduced by the State to prevent terrorism and terrorism-financing, are being used to target activists, human rights defenders, and even ordinary citizens who challenge the status quo or live in areas marked by conflict,” the groups said.
“Globally, the misuse of counter-terrorism financing standards has become a worrying trend, with governments exploiting international frameworks to suppress civic spaces under the guise of national security. The impact of this is devastating, particularly for marginalized indigenous communities defending their ancestral territories and natural resources,” they added.
Ginnadang and Innabuyog said the government must stop weaponizing such laws against civilians and must be repealed. (RVO)
