Pimentel said the final approval of the Anti-Terrorism Act by Congress is just a disguise for the real motive behind the holding of a special session – the enactment of a law allocating funds for the planting of 10 billion trees being pushed by Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

He said it was the House speaker who convinced the President to convene a special session, pointing to the need to ratify the Anti-Terrorism Act as the main reason for it.

However, Pimentel said that since the Anti-Terrorism Act provides that it will take effect two months after the May, 2007 elections, the ratification of the bill can be made when Congress resumes session in June.

"Speaker De Venecia’s call for a special session is out of place. Now, he wants money for 10 billion trees. If granted, even the birds and the trees will vote for administration bets in May. How sad that moneymaking now is the administration’s name of the game," he said.

Pimentel said although the intention of the massive tree planting programs may be good, Congress cannot intelligently and exhaustively debate over the bill specially the funding aspect during only two days of special session.

Even assuming that it will cost R1 to plant a tree, Pimentel said that it will cost the government R10 billion to plant 10 billion trees.

"And how will the funds for the tree planting be disbursed and distributed? Who are the people who will handle the funds?" he asked.

The minority leader said there is no question that the planting of trees particularly in the cities and other urban areas is a must in order to preserve or restore ecological balance.

"But my hunch is that the funds earmarked for this project will be siphoned to the election campaign activities of the administration," he said, as he warned of an anomaly in the same magnitude as the R728-million fertilizer scam that marred the 2004 presidential elections.

"They are pushing for approval of the 10 billion tree bill during the special session under the guise of finally approving the AntiTerrorism Act," he said.

Pimentel noted that the Anti-Terrorism Act, officially called Human Security Act of 2007, will not take effect until after the elections in May, even if it is finally ratified by both chambers of Congress and signed into law by President Arroyo this month.

Pimentel allayed public apprehensions that the controversial legislation may be used by law enforcement agencies to harass and repress the rights of the political foes of the administration during the election period.

The senator cited a portion of the proposed AntiTerrorism Act which provides that it will "take effect two months after the elections are held in May, 2007."

The provision further states that this legislation "shall be automatically suspended one month before and two months after the holding of any election."

"We inserted this safeguard precisely to prevent people in power from taking advantage of the AntiTerrorism Act to harass or cause harm to their political opponents during the election period," Pimentel explained.

It was Pimentel who insisted on delaying the effectivity of the administration-initiated legislation until 60 days after the May elections. This was one of the 89 amendments he introduced to the measure intended to make it less repulsive and less susceptible to abuse of civil liberties by law enforcers. About 95 percent of these amendments were adopted in the final version.

The final version of the bill was approved by the bicameral conference committee last Thursday and ratified by the Senate on the same day. But the House of Representatives failed to ratify the same since the members present were short of the number to constitute a quorum.