Poe seeks convening of NSC for Marawi crisis

MANILA, Philippines -  Sen. Grace Poe pushed yesterday for the convening of the National Security Council (NSC) to tackle the ongoing Marawi City crisis, but stressed this should not preclude the need for Congress to convene in joint session to deliberate on President Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

Poe, vice chair of the Senate committee on public order, was among the senators who voted to support Duterte’s martial law proclamation but she also cast her vote in favor of a resolution calling for a joint session of Congress.

She said the convening of the full NSC, which includes former presidents and leaders of Congress, would be “quite good so we would know the varied points of view and the President can filter from that.”

Poe said the NSC meeting cannot replace the joint session of Congress to deliberate on the basis for the declaration of martial law.

“There’s nothing to lose if we discuss this in joint session. But we need to discuss this for the record,” Poe said, adding the open deliberations in Congress can be a useful reference in the future.

She also expressed support for the petitions on the proclamation lodged before Supreme Court (SC), saying it would be interesting and educating for the public to find out the opinions of the magistrates.

Poe said she is open to suggestions to review the Human Security Act to see if the anti-terrorism law needs to be strengthened.

“We always have to uphold human rights but we also must not stifle legitimate police operations so we have go back to it,” she said.

Amid questions raised by some legislators about the justification for martial law in Mindanao, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday that the declassified video of the Maute group members planning the Marawi City rebellion was among the bases for their decision not to revoke Duterte’s declaration.

Pimentel confirmed that the video showing some kind of planning session with Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon and the Maute members was shown to him and the other senators during a closed-door briefing given by security officials shortly after declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

Almost no details of the briefing were given by the senators, except for a statement made by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana about how the Armed Forces of the Philippines could contain the Maute group in Marawi City even without the declaration of martial law as disclosed by members of the Senate minority.

This was used as an argument against the need to declare martial law in Mindanao by critics of the administration.

Pimentel said the video was among the several pieces of information he used as basis against the revoking of the martial law declaration.

“I read the President’s written report, I listened intently to the briefing given to us, I received feedback from Lanao from my contacts there (and even from some parts of Mindanao), and when we were still in Moscow the situation in Marawi was already the hot topic and I saw the pictures of what was happening in Marawi then from internet news feeds,” Pimentel said. 

“My overall conclusion was there’s no compelling reason to revoke the martial law proclamation at this time,” he added.

Lacson also confirmed the video, as well as the other disclosures during the security briefing, “made me decide to vote in favor of the martial law proclamation in Mindanao.”

“Further, I conclude that our colleagues who still oppose the martial law proclamation either did not understand the gravity of the security threat posed by the rebellion in the south, or they are simply opposed to anything that President Duterte does or acts on,” he said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III in separate statements said the SC cannot force Congress to convene in joint session, both being separate and independent branches of government.

Recto said while he voted for the convening of the joint session to review the basis for the declaration, “it would be difficult for the SC to order Congress.”

Sotto said he fully respects the SC and does not wish to preempt its decision.

“Now in the event the SC says Congress should convene in a joint session and Congress does not agree, who will enforce the order? The petition might be courting a constitutional crisis,” Sotto said.    – With Edu Punay, Marvin Sy