Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Thursday challenged those opposing martial law to go and bring their arguments to Mindanao.
Sotto issued the challenge after Congress, voting 235-28 with one abstention, granted the request of President Rodrigo Duterte to extend martial rule in the country’s southernmost island for the third time.
However, opposition members of the House of Representatives said they would challenge the renewed extension of the state of martial law in Mindanao before the Supreme Court.
The so-called Magnificent 7 opposition bloc and the progressive Makabayan bloc both said they will seek relief from the high tribunal.
“We feel very strongly that there is no constitutional and factual basis for that extension,” Albay Rep. Edsel Lagman told reporters in a press conference.
“We will definitely still maximize an arena where we can present our case. We will be filing definitely by January, like what we did last year,” Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao of the Makabayan bloc said.
However, the Senate president feels differently.
“I wish those against ML in Mindanao to go there and say there what they are saying here,” Sotto said in a text message after Congress overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday to approve the martial law extension until Dec. 31, 2019.
“They don’t need to live there. Just go there and say that they are against it,” he added.
Sotto was among the 12 of the 23 senators, who voted for the extension. Five senators were against it, while one abstained. Two did not participate while three failed to attend the session.
Sotto said he was no longer surprised when Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto abstained from voting and when Senator Francis Escudero voted against the extension.
Recto and Escudero belong to the majority block in the Senate.
“I knew what they were going to vote,” Sotto said.
“Ralph wanted six months [extension] lang. Chiz probably has his reasons. The thing is, there is a continuing actual rebellion in Mindanao,” he said.
Escudero voted no to the extension of martial law in Mindanao for another year, saying he sees no strong basis to extend it anew.
Escudero said that the Constitution empowers the President to declare the country or parts of it under martial rule in case of “invasion or rebellion when public requires it.”
“Rebellion at invasion, at hindi pagpapanatili ng peace and order, pagpapaganda ng ekonomiya at hindi dahil gusto ng tao ang magiging basehan ng martial law,” the senator said.
“Mindanao can achieve and has already achieved progress and peace through the efforts of the administration not because of martial law because it can do and not do the same things with or without martial law. Can we not maintain this norm without resorting to extraordinary measures?” Escudero asked.
“Martial law cannot be the new normal in Mindanao. I wish Mindanao will continue to achieve peace and progress not because of the taint of martial law. Let us give credit to ourselves, not martial law,” he added.
Senator Franklin Drilon expressed the same sentiment.
“Martial law cannot be the new normal,” Drilon said, adding that there’s no “actual rebellion or armed uprising” in Mindanao which can justify the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
“The persistence to continuously place Mindanao under martial law, without any clear showing of actual rebellion, makes me wonder: Is this the new normal?” said Drilon, who voted no to the third extension of martial law in Mindanao.
Drilon likened the government’s consistent resort to martial law to taking an antibiotic. “Ang martial law po ay parang antibiotic. It is resorted to only when ordinary over-the-counter drugs have ceased to work. Unlimited resort to this powerful medicine desensitizes the body and eventually no longer becomes effective in providing the protection that it was designed to give.”
For Drilon, martial law should be a measure of last resort. “We must not resort to it when other, less extreme measures are available.”
“The longer and more often antibiotics are used, the less effective they become. A stronger, more expensive drug may then be required to kill the bacteria,” Drilon added.
“If martial law is reduced to become part of Mindanao’s everyday reality, what recourse do we have left if, despite such military rule, the problem in Mindanao is not solved?” he added.
Drilon also raised concerns that martial law, which he called “the highest form of self-preservation,” was being viewed as a tool to make governance more effective.
“Implementing martial law to make governance more effective is a disturbing thought. That was never the intention of our framers,” Drilon said.
“We must remember that martial law is the highest form of self-preservation. It cannot be the norm,” he added.
Drilon said that based on the President’s request to extend Mindanao martial law, there is nothing that shows actual rebellion and armed uprising in the region to justify the extension, which is required by the Constitution.
“We submit that there is no ground, there is no actual uprising that is taking place in Mindanao to justify the extension of martial law. We must remember that Proclamation No. 216 was premised on the Marawi siege,” he said. He also noted that the siege ended in October last year.
The former Justice secretary also said in a briefing with the senators on Monday that the defense secretary called the continuation of martial law “a psychological war to quell an armed uprising.”
He said that the military has even classified the terrorist groups as merely “a peace and order problem today.”
“What the Constitution requires as ruled by the Supreme Court is actual armed uprising for the purpose of removing from the allegiance of the government the territory of the Philippines or any part thereof,” Drilon said.
Duterte first placed Mindanao under martial law on May 23, 2017, when the Islamic State-inspired Maute terrorist group attacked Marawi City.
He later asked Congress for its extension until December of 2017 but requested again to extend it until the end of 2018.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said there was nothing new with the Communist Party of the Philippines threat to mount a nationwide offensive in response to another year-long extension of martial law in Mindanao.
In an interview, Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesperson, said the rebels are merely using the martial law extension as an excuse for their real goals which is to conduct attacks and disturbances which could severely affect the country.
“In the past, they continued attacking soldiers on a humanitarian mission even if a ceasefire is in effect. They also extort money from businesses and investors and burn farming and public works equipment. These are the reasons why the President scrapped the ceasefire. So, what’s new?”
Arevalo also chided the rebels for having the temerity to declare a unilateral ceasefire during parts of the Yuletide season, a truce which they have conveniently forgotten following this latest CPP pronouncement.
“And they still have this unilateral ceasefire which they declared for the Christmas season,” he added.
The CPP ceasefire is slated to begin on 12:01 a.m. of Dec. 24 to 11:59 p.m. of Dec. 26 and on 12:01 a.m. of Dec. 31 to 11:59 p.m. of Jan. 1, 2019.
“This proves that the decision of the Armed Forces of the Philippines not to declare a ceasefire is right. It’s because we know that this is just another ploy for them to be able to hurl allegations that the AFP is against peace. It’s because we learned from their lies and propaganda,” he added.
Still, Arevalo assured the public that they are not taking the rebel threats lightly and have ordered troops to take necessary precautions.
“We are on a high alert level not because of that threat. It’s because we will help the PNP in case they ask assistance from the AFP,” he said.
Meanwhile, as Mindanao braces for another year of Martial Law, a clash in Patikul, Sulu between government soldiers and the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf resulted in the death of three ASG bandits and a marine soldier.
Capt. Felix Serapio Jr., head of the Philippine Marine’s public affairs office, said government troops exchanged fire against around 50 bandits in Minis Island around 2 a.m.
Two more soldiers from the 62nd Marine Company under the Philippine Marine Ready Force – Sulu were injured in the skirmishes.
Serapio said one of the bandits killed was a sub-group leader of the Abu Sayyaf in Sulu. The soldiers were able to recover two M14 rifles after the operation.
“The firefight is still ongoing as of this report while the casualties were already extricated,” the military official said.
READ: Martial law in Mindanao extended for 3rd time