THE administration is ready to justify the proclamation of martial law in Mindanao, Solicitor General Jose Calida said on Sunday.
“I am confident that we will be able to prove that there was substantial factual basis for declaring martial law and that the petitions will be dismissed,” Calida said in an interview.
He said he would submit his office’s comment Monday to three consolidated petitions seeking to strike down President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao after Maute group terrorists stormed Marawi City on May 23.
The chief state lawyer will represent the respondents in the case—Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary and Martial Law Administrator Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces Chief of Staff and Martial Law Implementor Eduardo Año.
The first petition filed by the group of opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman was consolidated with two similar petitions filed by local Mindanao leaders led by lumad leader Eufemia Campos Cullamat and a group of women from Marawi led by Norkaya Mohamad.
The Court has set oral arguments on these peitions from Tuesday to Thursday and will also hold a preliminary conference Monday afternoon to lay down the issues to be resolved.
Two other petitions were filed by separate groups led by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada both asking the Supreme Court to compel Congress into convening a joint session to review the martial law declaration.
The Court has yet to act on these petitions.
The two groups questioned the actions of the Senate and the House of Represenatives to issue separate resolutions expressing support for the martial law declaration.
But Calida said he believed the questions raised in all the petitions against martial law were baseless.
“Their denial that there is an ongoing rebellion by the combined forces of the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf, heightened by the participation of foreign jihadists to make Mindanao a caliphate of ISIS [Islamic State in Iraq and Syria], is like saying that the sun does not rise from the east. This is a symptom of psychosis since they are detached from reality,” Calida said.
Calida disagreed with the petitioners’ argument that the proclamation should be annulled because the President acted alone in declaring martial law without consulting his Cabinet.
“Nowhere in the Constitution does it state that the President’s declaration of martial law needs the recommendation or concurrence of the Defense secretary, or any Cabinet official,” Calida said.
Under Article VII Section 18 of the 1987 Constitution, the President may declare martial law and suspend the writ of habeas corpus only “in cases of invasion, rebellion or when public safety requires it.”
The section also states: “The Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of at least a majority of all its members in regular or special session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the initiative of the President, the Congress may, in the same manner, extend such proclamation or suspension for a period to be determined by the Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist and public safety requires it.”
Capiz Rep. Fredenil Castro said Sunday the Supreme Court must respect the decision of Congress not to hold a joint session on the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
“The worst that could happen is if Congress does not support the Supreme Court, the final arbiter of the matters of constitutionality here in our country,” he said.
He maintained it is within the powers of Congress not to convene a joint session under the Constitution unless it sees the need to nullify the martial law, or the need to extend it beyond 60 days.
“We are not suppressing [the power of] the Supreme Court. For me, the Supreme Court must respect whatever the stance of Congress is. We do not step into the affairs of the Supreme Court,” he said.
He echoed Alvarez’s legal position that Congress is a co-equal branch of the government.
“What is there to convene and to discuss in Congress if both Houses have already approved the resolutions?” he asked. With Rio N. Araja