It is well and good that the Armed Forces of the Philippines, this early, shot down the absurd proposal of a five-year martial law by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
There have been several harebrained ideas coming from Speaker Alvarez but this one probably is the most outrageous. For President Rodrigo Duterte to proclaim martial law in the next five years, before the unfolding of events to lay its legal basis, is putting the cart before the horse. It does not take a rocket scientist or law graduate to know that.
But then, Bebot Alvarez probably wants to stay as Speaker in the next five years. Sucking up to Digong would ensure his tenure against challenges from other congressmen. Alvarez may not know it but his principal, the President, is surely aware the Speaker is doing him a disservice.
The military had enough sense to tell Alvarez that a five-year martial law is too long and any decision on its extension would depend on the situation on the ground. Duterte imposed martial law in Mindanao when the ISIS-linked Maute terrorists laid siege to Marawi. The 60-day limit for imposing martial law, under the 1987 Constitution lapses on July 22, two days before the President deliver his State of the Nation Address before Congress on July 24. Duterte and sidekick Alvarez should just be grateful the Supreme Court ruled that the declaration of martial law in Mindanao has legal basis.
AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla told a press briefing in Malacañang that the military’s recommendation for the extension of martial law will depend on its own assessment of the situation and not on someone’s say-so. The implementation of martial law after all falls on the shoulders of our soldiers. Without them, martial law cannot be carried out. Worse, a backlash to presidential abuses of prerogatives may just result in the army recoiling and pulling a coup d’etat to unseat the President. This has happened before in Thailand and South Korea.
Except for some remnants and deadly sniper fire, it looks like government troops are about to wind up their clearing operation against the Mautes. It might still be acceptable to extend martial law another month in some parts of Mindanao threatened by terrorist acts. But unless we see urban guerrilla warfare being waged in Metro Manila and other major cities, the government should be able to handle the situation without declaring the draconian measure of martial law.
But to impose martial law for five years? Even the people of Mindanao who want to get back to their homes and live normal lives will not accept living under the shadow of military rule.
Trump’s Russian link
The Trump campaign team’s denial of dealing with the Russians to influence the outcome of the last US elections is beginning to unravel. Listening and watching to CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s interview of political figures and analysts, one gets the sense that there was concerted effort to cover up the unlawful act.
A New York Times report detailed the meeting of Donald Trump Jr., campaign strategist Paul Manafort and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya who purportedly offered damaging information on Democratic presidential rival Hilary Clinton.
Now getting info dirt on your rival is par for the course in any presidential election whether here or in America. But to meet with someone who’s Russian and identified as having done work for the Kremlin, betrays Trump’s desperation to win the White House. Putin, on the other hand, must probably think Trump would be more manageable than a Hillary Clinton, the former US Secretary of State. That Veselnitskaya is Russian should have raised the red flags with the Trump team. It’s rather hard to believe Trump Junior’s claim he does not know who he was meeting considering the Trump Towers in New York was then one of the most secured places during the presidential campaign. To get in one has to show proper identification before a layer of FBI and Secret Service agents.
Donald Jr. was a key player in his father’s campaign for the White House. For him to say he does not the person he was meeting at the Trump Towers in New York City would show he really is a chip off the old block. Thomas Friedman, an author and political analyst, said Trump does not think things through and is prone to talking first and thinking later. These are not our words but Friedman’s. He went on to add that Trump in the Group of 20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany failed to capitalize on harnessing the economic powers of these countries in dealing with the China problems on trade, the South China Sea dispute and the North Korean ICBM threat.
It would be interesting to see how much further the Trump team will unravel when they appear before a Senate committee which will investigate the case of Russian meddling in US elections. Senator John Warner wants to grill Trump Jr., et al.