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Research Article

Unpacking the Ambiguities in Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 of the Philippines

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Joehenson Niño Babao , Danessa Kaye Bangoy , May Elyssa Bontog , Erika Codilla , Maico Demi Aperocho
Psych Educ Multidisc J, 2025, 49 (1), 63-69, DOI: https://doi.org/10.70838/pemj.490106, ISSN 2822-4353
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Abstract

This paper analyzes and focuses on disambiguating the ambiguities in Republic Act (R.A.) 11479, An Act to Prevent, Prohibit, and Penalize Terrorism, thereby Repealing Republic Act No. 9372. Ambiguities in legal texts arise due to technical jargon, complex sentence structures, and a lack of specificity in the application and scope of the law, especially when the language is open to multiple interpretations. This study unravels the ambiguities in various categories, primarily lexical, referential, syntactic, cross-textual, and pragmatic ambiguity, as found in R.A. 11479. The research employed a qualitative design, utilizing forensic discourse analysis, and analyzed the data using the Types of Ambiguities framework by Bernardo and Albaña-Garrido (2023). The findings revealed five ambiguities in the legal text, and the interaction of these ambiguities leads to the conclusion that the language employed in this legal document may be misunderstood, giving rise to conflicting interpretations.

Keywords terrorism ambiguity forensic discourse analysis types of ambiguity anti-terrorism
Authors 5
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The team behind this paper

5 authors, 1 institution.

This paper University of Mindanao — Philippines University of Mindanao 5 authors Joehenson Niño Babao — corresponding author JB Joehenson Niño Babao ✉ Danessa Kaye Bangoy DB Danessa Kaye Bangoy May Elyssa Bontog MB May Elyssa Bontog Erika Codilla EC Erika Codilla Maico Demi Aperocho MA Maico Demi Aperocho

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686 reads over 12 months.

November 2025 October 2026

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SciMatic 0xc35709…277732 100,000 (10%)
Joehenson Niño Babao 0x1BFfB1…21f1A3 180,000 (18%)
Danessa Kaye Bangoy 0x8fA801…FC5224 180,000 (18%)
May Elyssa Bontog 0x0D8cb6…B3382a 180,000 (18%)
Erika Codilla 0x6E9Ddf…5b83Ba 180,000 (18%)
Maico Demi Aperocho 0x7f6e5B…FfEB22 180,000 (18%)
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Bibliographic Information

Joehenson Niño Babao, Danessa Kaye Bangoy, May Elyssa Bontog, Erika Codilla, Maico Demi Aperocho, (2025). Unpacking the Ambiguities in Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 of the Philippines, Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 49(1): 63-69
Bibtex Citation
@article{joehenson_niño_babao2025pemj,
author = {Joehenson Niño Babao and Danessa Kaye Bangoy and May Elyssa Bontog and Erika Codilla and Maico Demi Aperocho},
title = {Unpacking the Ambiguities in Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 of the Philippines},
journal = {Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal},
year = {2025},
volume = {49},
number = {1},
pages = {63-69},
doi = {10.70838/pemj.490106},
url = {https://scimatic.org/show_manuscript/6702}
}
APA Citation
Babao, J.N., Bangoy, D.K., Bontog, M.E., Codilla, E., Aperocho, M.D., (2025). Unpacking the Ambiguities in Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 of the Philippines. Psychology and Education: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 49(1), 63-69. https://doi.org/10.70838/pemj.490106

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