Opposition to appeal SC ruling on martial law

MANILA, Philippines — After calling the Supreme Court a “court of no resort” for upholding the legality of martial law extension in Mindanao, Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay said yesterday he and his opposition colleagues would file an appeal.

Lagman said they would file a motion for reconsideration (MR) “to document the flawed, erroneous and biased rationalizations of the majority of the justices.”

He had earlier said he was not keen on appealing the SC decision. With the ruling, the SC “is no longer a court of last resort but a court of no resort,” he said on Tuesday shortly after the decision was announced.

“This would place on judicial record and memorialize in Philippine history how the high court’s majority crafted strained and strange justifications in kowtowing to the political departments’ importuning which derogated the Constitution and the people’s civil liberties,” he said.

On Tuesday, voting 10-5, the Supreme Court upheld the decision of Congress extending martial law in Mindanao for the whole of 2018. The tribunal dismissed petitions questioning such decision.

Lagman said their MR would elaborate on the “dismal failure to determine and find lack of sufficient factual basis for the extension of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus” and the absence of actual rebellion in Mindanao.

He said Presidential Proclamation No. 216, which contained President Duterte’s martial law declaration in May last year, had already accomplished its purpose “with the decimation of the leadership and membership of the Maute-Abu Sayyaf terrorist group.”

“No less than President Duterte declared the liberation of Marawi from terrorist influence and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana categorically announced that all military operations had been terminated way back in October 2017,” he said.

He added that remnants of terrorist groups could not “revive a vanquished rebellion or launch a new one.”

“Both the President and the Congress failed to show that an extension is needed because public safety requires it, which is a separate ground for declaration or extension of martial law aside from actual rebellion,” Lagman stressed.

He accused the 10 justices who voted for extending martial law of violating constitutional safeguards “on the mandatory grounds of the existence of actual rebellion and requirement of public safety, and the clear intent of the Constitution that any extension must only be for a limited period.”

Aside from the Lagman group, leftist lawmakers led by Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna had questioned the extension of martial law.

Zarate said the SC ruling sustaining the extension could bring about more human rights violations in Mindanao.

“The Supreme Court failed to see the suffering of Mindanaons who are victims of military abuses due to martial law,” he said.

Another opposition petitioner, Gary Alejano of Magdalo, said the SC ruling “runs counter to the provisions of the 1987 Constitution which state that martial law could only be declared when there is actual rebellion or invasion, and when public safety requires it.”

“None of these requisites have been satisfied. Moreover, the threats that supposedly require the extension could already be suppressed through regular military operations,” he said.

“With Duterte’s control over the supermajority in Congress, frequent threats of a revolutionary government, and inclusion of NPA attacks as basis of ML extension, it is clear that nationwide martial law is a very possible means to achieve his political agenda,” he said.

The former Marine officer urged the people to be more vigilant “amidst the looming tyrannical threat.”

Reflection of unity

At Malacañang, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the SC decision “underscores the unity of the whole government in its bid to defeat terrorism.”

“The majority of votes is a manifestation of confidence on law enforcement agencies that they shall, like they had been doing before, continue to protect our people, secure Mindanao, and pursue the bigger task of rehabilitation while upholding the rule of law, Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Law,” he added.

Senators from the majority bloc said the SC decision should be respected.

“The Supreme Court has spoken, what’s there to debate? Anyway, I think the appeals process remains open,” Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on national defense and security, said.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said he was wondering why critics were calling the SC decision a failure of the rule of law when all steps required under the Constitution for the extension of the martial law had been complied with.

“How can this (failure of rule of law) be the case when the strict constitutional checks and balances that regulate the power to extend martial law have been observed in good faith?” Gatchalian said.

He said the recommendation of the President to extend martial law, the approval of the extension during a joint session of Congress, and the SC’s review of the extension were all conducted exactly as required by the Constitution.

“At the end of this long deliberative process, the three great branches of government have come to the same conclusion – that the extension of martial law is a just and necessary medicine to cure Mindanao of the violent extremism that has afflicted the island for so long,” he said.

“In the end, the political battles that rage in the halls of government and on social media must give way to the life-and-death battles being fought by our brave soldiers and policemen on the front lines of the conflict,” he added.

Gatchalian urged all Filipinos, regardless of political affiliation, to unite behind the government’s efforts to defeat the rebellion and eradicate violent extremism.

Senators Risa Hontiveros and Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, both from the minority bloc, however expressed disappointment over the ruling.

“With the decision supporting the prolonged martial law, the doors to declaration of martial law nationwide without clear basis have flung open,” Aquino said in Filipino.

He said the continued efforts to weaken the country’s democracy must stop. – With Alexis Romero, Paolo Romero