MANILA - Protesting against government and other civil and political exercises are not acts of terrorism, the spokesman of the Anti-Terrorism Council said Monday.

The Department of Justice earlier released the implementing rules and regulations of the law that president Rodrigo Duterte signed in July despite public opposition.

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"'Yang mga bagay na 'yan—pagbatikos sa gobyerno, lehitimong paghihinaing—okay lang 'yan, walang problema 'yan kasi you are within the exercise of your constitutional and civil and political rights. Di 'yan terorismo," ATC spokesman and DOJ Undersecretary Adrian Sugay told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo.

(Protesting against government and legitimate complaints are okay, there's no problem with that because you are within the exercise of your constitutional and civil and political rights. It's not terrorism.)

Under the IRR, advocacy, protest, dissent, stoppage of work, and other exercises of civil and political rights are considered not acts of terrorism, subject to the same conditions that they are not intended to cause death or serious physical harm to a person, endanger a person’s life, or create a serious risk to public safety.

Sugay also said government follows a process in designating groups or individuals as terrorist, which requires probable cause.

Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, however, said government has already "prejudged dissenters."

"That intolerance of dissent is more than sufficient to overturn ang probable cause nila kaya it doesn’t bring comfort kasi wala pang terror law ang dami na nilang kinasuhan na aktibista," he told ABS-CBN's Teleradyo in a separate interview.

"What probable cause can you expect when in fact the leader of the anti-terror council has already not only prejudge you, practically declared in public na ikaw ay terorista before terror law at IRR pa."