Koko hits PCOO over martial law message

MANILA, Philippines -  Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III yesterday urged the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) to get its act together after yet another blunder – the release of a video promoting martial law as a new normal.

“What this means is that it is wrong for people to want martial law as the new normal. So, that is a wrong message,” Pimentel said, pointing out that martial law is an “extreme power of the president to be used only for the most serious of emergency cases.”

The Constitution states that military rule may only be imposed in cases of rebellion, invasion or when, in the judgment of the president, public safety requires it.

The video propaganda released on social media Wednesday night featured a boy carrying a shield, with a group of shadows seemingly converging on him. The text “Extremism” was written over the shadows, while “Martial Law” was written on the shield.

“In a free society, there are groups who don’t want to give independence. They are adamant on detaining peaceful spirits. They are distressing feelings with fears,” the voice-over narration of the 37-second video said.

“Let us not allow them to terrify us. We will all fight for freedom. Martial law should be the rule of the land. Martial law, now!” the video ended.

The video has since been taken down by the PCOO headed by Secretary Martin Andanar, which Pimentel said was only proper.

“They took it down already. It was an admission of a mistake so that’s okay. We all commit mistakes but we should avoid making very big mistakes,” he said.

However, he stressed that there is a need for Andanar’s office to get its act together and if necessary undergo a revamp.

“Secretary Andanar needs to improve the quality of people in his office. Let us give him time to fix it,” Pimentel said.

He advised the PCOO to always conduct a thorough review of the information it presents to the public even in cases when they are pressed to release it in a very short period of time. This can be done, he added, when the PCOO brainstorms, analyzes, then double and triple check the final product before releasing anything to the public.

“The issue with the wrong picture, that was just an accident. That really happens. But that means that no one is paying attention to details, no one is doing the counterchecking or the final editing. So, it’s a matter of system and paying attention to details,” Pimentel said.

For something as serious as the declaration of martial law, Pimentel advised the PCOO to be extra careful.

Although the PCOO immediately deleted the video from its Twitter account, a user uploaded it on social news and discussion site Reddit.

“Oversimplification of the current situation to make it look like ‘Martial Law’ is the only thing that could save us from the ‘Extremist,’ it didn’t even bother to explain how ‘Martial Law’ works, what a waste of resources,” one comment read.

“Comments about this poorly made video aside, shouldn’t we be concerned that Martin Andanar and his spinsters are now conditioning the minds of the masses that Martial Law is good? Is this a sign of things to come?” another added.

A response to the comment noted that former dictator Ferdinand Marcos did something similar by requiring students to memorize his proclamation on martial law and sing songs heralding the “new society.”

“This is mind conditioning. They do not put forth what the effects of martial law are, both pros and cons,” a comment read.

“Extremist looks like professional soldiers. Martial Law is the rule of the land. Jesus Christ, is this where our taxes go?” said another.

Various parodies were also uploaded, including a video that changed the text from “Extremism” and “Martial Law” to “Fake News” and “Facts.”

The PCOO was recently under fire after the Philippine News Agency (PNA) and Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson used wrong photos to refer to the situation in Marawi City.

The PNA apologized for the error, while Uson insisted that it was symbolism. Andanar declined to comment on the issues. –Janvic Mateo