MANILA, Philippines - A lawyer of the Ampatuans and four other parties, in separate petitions, asked the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to stop President Arroyo from placing Maguindanao under martial law and to void Proclamation 1959.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said the SC must act on the petitions within 30 days.
At the SC, spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said all the petitions have been included in the agenda for the session today.
The justices would most likely consolidate the petitions and rule on whether a temporary restraining order should be issued, he added.
Joining lawyer Sigfried Fortun in questioning the martial law proclamation were Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL); party-list groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela and Bayan; concerned citizens led by former Senate president Jovito Salonga; lawyer Harry Roque Jr.; and law student Joseph Nelson Loyola.
Proclamation 1959 has no basis in the Constitution and was issued with grave abuse of discretion, according to the petitioners.
In determining the constitutionality of Proclamation 1959, the real battle would take place at the SC, according to senators.
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Miriam Defensor-Santiago said Proclamation 1959 could be used to test the waters if Mrs. Arroyo could declare martial law in areas where violence would be reported during next year’s elections.
The SC should not allow a bad precedent as senators would be helpless in the face of a House of Representatives dominated by Malacañang allies, Lacson added.
Lacson said this could pave the way for failure of elections and allow Mrs. Arroyo to stay in power.
“The problem is she can ask for extension from Congress and we are bound to lose all the time (because of the numbers),” he said.
“What if she extends it until election season?”
The issue “ends” with the SC despite the joint session of Congress today to review the proclamation, Santiago added.
Sen. Rodolfo Biazon expressed concern that Congress might not be able to exercise its oversight functions properly.
“How Congress will handle this issue can be a precedent because it could progress to the imposition of martial law on a regional or national level,” he said.
“If Congress provides a precedent, a recurrence of the imposition or escalation to a wider area would have to also be dealt with in the future.”
The SC can overturn any decision of Congress on the martial law proclamation, according to Sen. Edgardo Angara.
‘No rebellion in Maguindanao’
Dilangalen said no rebellion or invasion exists to allow the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.
“Rebellion is defined under Article 134 of Revised Penal Code as rising publicly and taking arms against the government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to the said government or its law,” he said.
“(There is) absolutely no public uprising and taking up of arms against the government in the province, (and) not a single incident of lawless violence was reported after the declaration of a state of emergency.”
Reported threats of rebellion in Maguindanao cannot be a valid ground for the declaration of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, Dilangalen said.
The NUPL said Proclamation 1959 failed to state any sufficient factual basis for the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.
“The public safety in the area covered by Proclamation 1959 can be ensured even without the proclamation of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,” he said.
Fortun said no actual rebellion has taken place in Maguindanao for Mrs. Arroyo to declare martial law.
“If the President sees any imminent threat of rebellion or invasion, she may call out the armed Forces to suppress lawless violence,” he said.
“That is her only option. There is neither public apprising nor taking up of arms against the government. As acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales and (Armed Forces spokesman) Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. confirmed, the government has full control over Maguindanao,” he stressed.
Fortun said the Ampatuans’ supposed plan to publicly rise and take up arms against the government is pure speculation.
“If there is anyone who is predisposed to sow dissension, it would have to be the government who seems to have a penchant for violating the law and overstretching the bounds of the Constitution just to realize what it wishes to effect,” he said.
“Add to this its inclination for political gimmickry during this season of wooing voters for the upcoming election, makes accurate the view of man that martial law is intended to pursue this government’s political agendas.”
Salonga and Roque said Mrs. Arroyo gravely abused her discretion in proclaiming martial law in Maguindanao
“(Maguindanao) is no stranger to rebellion,” they said.
“It is home to units of the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front. This fact – which without question involves more men and arms than what the Ampatuans can muster – had not justified the imposition of martial rule in the province, even if the MILF’s secessionist movement reaches a far greater area than the sphere of influence attributed to the Ampatuans.”
Devanadera: Maguindanao now a separate republic
Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said yesterday the Ampatuans have already taken over the government in
Maguindanao.
“It has become a separate government headed by the Ampatuans or another republic,” she said.
“(The Ampatuans) are not overthrowing (government), they already have their own government there,” she said.
Devanadera said they have received information that the Ampatuans have bought tanks labeled “Police” without approval from the PNP.
“That very large armed component prevented the government in that area to operate just like in any other local government as part and parcel of the republic,” she said.
Devanadera said although the Ampatuans were duly elected officials, they are not allowed by law to put up their own private army.
Devanadera said the judicial system in Maguindanao has been paralyzed, contrary to a statement of SC spokesman Marquez.
“If the court there has been functioning regularly we didn’t have to go to the Supreme Court to assign a judge in Cotabato RTC,” she said.
Santiago: No basis for martial law
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said yesterday Mrs. Arroyo’s declaration of martial law in Maguindanao has no basis in the Constitution.
No rebellion exists in Maguindanao to warrant the declaration of martial law, she added.
Santiago said Congress must revoke the martial law proclamation for suffering from “doctrinal confusion.”
“The Constitution requires an actual state of rebellion, which is defined as an armed public uprising,” she said.
“But the TV public never saw any armed public uprising against the government. What it saw was an act of terrorism.”
Santiago said the definition of rebellion under the Constitution must come from the Revised Penal Code, which defines the crime of rebellion as “rising publicly and taking arms against the government, for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to the government, any part of the territory, or of the armed forces, or the powers of the chief executive, and the Congress,” she said.
Santiago said on closer analysis, the martial law proclamation was based merely on imminent rebellion, which the Constitution removed as a ground for martial law.
“The President was ill-served by her legal advisers,” she said.
“I accuse her shadowy lawyers of engaging in creative constitutional construction.
“If the Constitution is clear, there is no room for interpretation. The entire ‘whereas’ part of the proclamation is an exercise in creative constitutional interpretation.”
Santiago said to suppress any state of imminent rebellion, it was enough for Mrs. Arroyo to exercise her powers as commander-in-chief and to call out the Armed Forces.
“Her advisers invented preemptive martial law. The thinking behind the proclamation seems to be that the state could exercise preemptive martial law in anticipation of an imminent rebellion.
“That is creative, but unfortunately it has no relation to constitutional law. Perhaps the advisers were mistakenly making an analogy with the concept of preemptive self-defense under criminal law.”
“The Concom records are profuse with the affirmations of the commissioners that there should be actual and not merely imminent rebellion,” she said.
AFP: Martial law needed
Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner said yesterday placing Maguindanao under martial law was necessary to recover more arms caches of the Ampatuan family.
“Our informants said there are still a lot of arms caches so without martial law, we cannot proceed immediately without a warrant of arrest,” he said.
Brawner said Maguindanao is a special case because the government is dealing with armed groups who can, at anytime, launch an attack.
Vice Gov. Akhmad Ampatuan has declared war against the government when he told an armed group that they should fight to the death, he added, quoting Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno.
CHR: Revoke martial law declaration
The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) called yesterday for the repeal of the martial law declaration in Maguindanao after receiving information of human rights violations in the province.
Speaking to reporters at the 1st National Educators’ Congress on Human Rights Education at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City, CHR chair Leila de Lima said she has received separate calls from four women from Shariff Aguak and Amptauan towns that soldiers were arbitrarily raiding houses, tying the hands of men, and touching the private parts of women while searching the premises.
“The government must seriously consider the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao because it is not necessarily the most effective way to resolve the killings or maintain or restore the peace and order, or even prevent further violence there,” she said.
De Lima said human rights violations are imminent during martial law and urged the people to be extra vigilant.
“In fact, martial law exponentially raises the risks of various human rights violations such as the ones reported to us,” she said.
“The people said they do not know where to go to report these human rights abuses anymore that they had no more choice but to go directly to us, the CHR.”
De Lima said she has ordered the deployment of 12 more investigators in Maguindanao to verify reports of human rights violations.
“The extraordinary powers accorded to uniformed services under martial law may be misunderstood, misapplied, or even abused by certain individuals, especially without very clear and express guidelines that are strictly enforced to protect human rights,” she said.
“Some might mistake martial law 2009 to mean martial law 1972 even if it might not be the intention of the incumbent president,” De Lima said. The CHR has come out with a human rights advisory questioning the legality of the martial law declaration and its continued implementation in Maguindanao.
The CHR will hold a public inquiry into the situation in Maguindanao in General Santos City from Dec. 16-18, she added.
De Lima said the CHR will look into how authorities had treated detained members of Civilian Volunteers Organization.
“We are taking on the issues of the members of the CVOs motu proprio basically because we consider them as among those vulnerable also to human rights violations… they are like the small fishes, they are also victims here due to poverty and their ignorance,” she said.
De Lima said arrested Ampatuan family members can file a complaint before the CHR.
“The Ampatuans, if they file complaint with the CHR certainly we will also look into it,” she added.
De Lima said authorities should not resort to “shortcuts” and must always be on the offensive rather than on the defensive.
Dimaporo: Place Lanao town under martial law
Lanao del Norte Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo called on President Arroyo yesterday to place under martial law Pantao Ragat town in Lanao del Norte to crush the private army of the vice mayor.
In a statement, Dimaporo said Vice Mayor Lacson Lantud’s alleged private army supposedly seized a coconut plantation in Pantao Ragat and burned houses to get rid of residents.
“The people there are living in fear as it is controlled by its vice mayor Lacson Lantud, who has a private army composed of more than 200 Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CASGU),” he said.
The town’s mayor, Neshren Eleanor Dimaporo-Lantud, is related to Dimaporo.
“They are fully armed and even their weapons are more powerful or superior than the government soldiers,” read the statement.
“Lantud’s CAFGU was originally composed of 30 members, but now the number has gone up to more than 200 as it is allegedly strengthened through the help of the Philippine Army.
Dimaporo said Lantud has fully controlled all the agencies of the local government, including those from the Commission on Elections, the PNP, and the Department of Education.
Archbishop: End martial law after crisis
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo said yesterday martial law should be terminated after normalcy has been restored in Maguindanao.
“Once it is no longer necessary, it must immediately cease,” he said.
“The shorter the time, the better. This is because of the double-edged nature of martial law.
“The longer it is exercised, the more likely it would be for human rights to be violated and for weapons to be used for evil.”
The former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said the complexity of the situation and the need for swift justice for the 57 victims of the Maguindanao massacre would dictate an extraordinary measure.
“Martial law is a last resort, ” he said.
“I do not know if all other recourse to resolve the above situation, particularly the appalling and most dreadful crime of Nov. 23 that cries out to heaven, would be adequate.”
Quevedo said media and politicians in Metro Manila are not familiar with the social, political, and cultural situation in Maguindanao.
“They seem to think that the police and the military can easily go into an area and just arrest the suspected culprits,” he said.
“Even a ‘state of emergency’ did not seem adequate to cope with the situation. Thus, a declaration of martial law.
“Since martial law has been declared, let it be. Let the lawyers debate it. I pray that martial law will resolve the abnormal situation and deal swift justice for the victims.”
Bayan to protest vs GMA
Bayan called yesterday for mass protest actions against the alleged move of President Arroyo to keep herself in power.
Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary-general, said most legal opinions point to the absence of any legal basis for declaring martial law in Maguindanao.
“Yet it was done and now the military wants to extend it till the 2010 elections,” he said.
“If (Mrs.) Arroyo can get away with this in Maguindanao, she can get away with it anywhere in the Philippines.
“We have every reason to believe that it is part of the sinister plot to keep power. If Arroyo gets congressional approval or if the Supreme Court upholds this proclamation, then the stage is set for martial rule and the failure of elections in 2010.
“She crossed the line once, she’s bound to do it again and again until her lust for power is satisfied. Our conclusion is that Gloria Arroyo has to go.”
Reyes said the public can not be assured that Congress and the Supreme Court will void the martial law declaration in Maguindanao.
“It will be a difficult fight in the Supreme Court and Congress,” he said.
“The numbers may not favor us. Thus, we must fight martial law and the abuse of power the only effective way we know how.
“The same way we fought martial law and the Marcos dictatorship, we have to go to the streets in protest.”
The protest actions will coincide with the observance of human rights week leading up to Dec. 10.
Today, Bayan and its allied groups will troop to the House of Representatives when Congress convenes in joint session to deliberate Mrs. Arroyo’s report on martial law.
On Wednesday, Bayan will join a protest action led by media groups calling for justice for the Ampatuan massacre and opposing martial law in Maguindanao.
On Dec. 10, thousands are expected to join the annual march and protest to mark International Human Rights Day.
Lawmaker: Lift martial law
A lawmaker called on President Arroyo yesterday to lift the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.
U-Utak Rep. Vigor Mendoza said martial law in Maguindanao must be lifted to prevent a possible constitutional crisis.
“The SC has already provided the legal framework for the declaration of martial law; no actual rebel or invasion, no martial law,” he said.
—with Aurea Calica, Katherine Adraneda, Perseus Echeminada, John Unson, James Mananghaya, Delon Porcalla, Evelyn Macairan, Jaime Laude - By Edu Punay (Philstar News Service, www।philstar.com)
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