On June 3, the House of Representatives approved the Anti-Terrorism Bill on its third and final reading. President Rodrigo Duterte just needs to sign the bill or let it automatically lapse into a law after 30 days. before it officially becomes a law. Under this bill, those who propose, incite, conspire and participate in the planning, training, preparation and facilitation of a terrorist act can be detained without a warrant of arrest for 14 days.
Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, who voted against the bill on Feb. 26, called its definition of terrorism “vague and encompassing” which includes motivations that “intimidate the general public,” “create an atmosphere or spread a message of fear” and “provoke or influence by intimidation the government.” The government has a history of “red-tagging” those that have been critical of the current administration and many fear that this bill will be used to legitimize state force against them. The Armed Forces of the Philippines previously named the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and several student-led mass organizations as communist terrorist groups for merely expressing beliefs against the government’s reported injustices. Moreover, the bill could be abused to suppress every citizen’s right to freedom of speech both physically and virtually since law enforcements will be allowed to intercept private conversations through wiretapping gadgets. Last week, people vociferously expressed their opposition to the bill online trending the hashtags #JunkTerrorBill and #JunkTerrorBillNow.
Since critical statements on or against the administration can become grounds for suspected terrorism, people have began to use codes and languages that certain communities are already familiar with such as jejemon and gay lingo.
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wH4tZzHuUp m64 jh3jh3Mh0nZ! gH4niTuu Nh4 LuN6 uL!! +3u mh4g2AL!t4 pH4rUhH m6-0r64n124hH Lh4bun Xx4 T3rR4wR Bh!Ll.., xD
— 💛✨KURI✨💛 (@creatorivm) June 3, 2020
Many started tweeting #OustYouKnowWho to “hide” the official in question until it trended alongside #JunkTerrorBill. While this tweet’s message is pretty straightforward, it’s still pretty entertaining to those familiar with the conyo language.
#OustYouKnowWho We have, like, so much utang na. The future future future generation will be making bayad because of the katangahan, bro.
— I have, like, a headache, bro. (@the19xo) June 4, 2020
Following the #OustYouKnowWho trend, Potterheads recognized the Harry Potter reference “You-Know-Who” in it and also expressed their dissent through their fanbase.
#OustYouKnowWho hahahaha been using Harry Potter terminologies these days, mahirap na. As a potterhead, I never imagined that we’ll be using “You-Know-Who”, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”, and the “Dark Lord” (sama na natin mga Death Eaters) in real life. 😆 Anyways, manindigan! ✊
— á (@fordaintniel) June 4, 2020
K-Pop stans also added their own witty posts to send the message without dropping names. This one just takes a little mental math and an EXO stan to get.
I don’t want to go to jail, so let’s speak in codes 🤫
Ang maka-gets may award. #OustYouKnowWho pic.twitter.com/jYlR3dkbIV
— 🌈 (@mysehuniverse) June 4, 2020
Speaking of not dropping names, some used a simpler set of numbers that many people on the internet will most likely understand.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
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Related stories:
The people of the internet have spoken and they said #JunkTerrorBill
Silencing the youth is a threat to our democracy
Report the truth even if the government scares you
Don’t give up, join the Anti-Terror Bill email protests
