Martial law will be forever etched in the
consciousness of the Filipinos, but not its meaning. It used to be the darkest
period of our history as a nation; now, to others, it is the glorious days of
peace and order.
With the new administration, talks of declaring
martial law have been circulating again. While there is a debate of whether it
will be implemented or not in this administration, let’s look at the political
environment and see if the country is ripe to be put under martial law again.
8. Terror
attacks
The recent bombing in Davao was no joke. Yes,
there had been so many terrorist attacks that have happened in the recent
years. But to target and successfully strike what is perceived to be the safest
city in the country – the very foundation of why our current president was
elected – means much more than just to raise terror.
While disowning the blast and pointing fingers to
other allies, Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) says this is “sending a message to President Rodrigo Duterte that all the Daulat Ul Islamiya (the
group behind the blast according to ASG) throughout the country is not afraid
of him.”
Demanding to be recognized as a caliphate, ASG made threats before the blast. "They gave us the warning. Not only in
Jolo, but in other places. We were forewarned, we were ready," Duterte
said. "Unfortunately, we cannot frisk or order people to stop and search
because that could be fascistic. Then that is not a democracy anymore. That is
the price of being a democratic state."
As more bombings are expected by the government, Duterte promised that there would
be a “day of reckoning.” In what form it will be, we’ll just have to find out.
7. Killings
and arrests
Let’s face it: the number of extrajudicial
killings is alarmingly high for a country where even judicial killings are not
allowed. More than 3,000 people had been in killed in this war on drugs in just less than 3
months, highest since martial law era. It may have been to eliminate the excruciating drug
problem in the country but when innocent lives become unintentional collateral damage, then public safety becomes a catch-22
situation. Especially since there are reported police casualties, as well. It
could be all going well until it hits our home.
And in most cases, PNP’s Operation Tokhang saw that through. The national police has been knocking on
houses of known drug personalities and persuading them to surrender sans warrants.
It has mostly been effective since many on the drug list have surrendered or
been arrested. However, Commission on Human Rights, the very office that was
established after Marcos regime, said it has been receiving reports from “people who are not involved in drugs, being included into this lists and thereby
creating a scenario of possible abuse.” There are also reports that while
criminals are being killed, NGO leaders or community leaders are also being
killed.
Malacañang says the president is against extrajudicial killings and even decries UN’s attribution of the murders to the government. This adds to the confusion
of who’s killing who. Are these killings result of police operations or murders
of other illegal drug personalities? Was it legal? Was there a due process?
Saying one need not to worry if he/she hasn’t done anything illegal is now not
enough to calm you in the midst of the rising death toll.
6. Impending political
crisis
The recent circus in the senate did not help. The senate committee on justice and human rights
chairman Sen. Leila De Lima introduced a witness on the hearing regarding the
supposedly extrajudicial killings committed by Duterte administration. Should
the committee succeed in producing probable cause for these allegations, the
next logical step would be an impeachment case filed against the president.
On the other hand, Duterte’s fierce ally and
running mate last national elections, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, has been
fighting tooth and nail on validating the credibility of the witness. He then
went on to theorize that this entire investigation is the opposing party’s (Liberal, which De Lima
is a member) political move to remove the president in office and place Vice
President Leni Robredo so that Liberal Party would take charge of the
Malacañang again.
Beyond the speculations and grandstanding, if the
president, enjoying more than 90% approval rating, would be removed from office
by any means, a massive revolt is not far from happening. The government would
be left in limbo as passionate supporters of both camps would definitely clash,
and thus, a political crisis may open up possibilities, like in Thailand.
On his relentless war on drugs, even the president
acknowledges the death
threats he’s been receiving. When he released his narcolist, Duterte implored the AFP to take up the fight against drugs, in case of unforeseeable
fruition of these threats. “Prepare for that eventuality, prepare for war; the reason I want you to be equipped
with advanced weaponry. I do not know if I would still be alive during the
course of my six years term.”
5. Critical Press
On the day martial law was imposed in 1972, media
establishments were the first ones to be shut down and the journalists critical
of Marcos administration were arrested. Then, only publishing and broadcasting
companies, as well as state-controlled ones, that would print materials
suitable and passable to government’s taste would be allowed to operate. A very
critical press is seen as subversive and therefore, anti-government.
Duterte welcomes criticism from the press: “Do not hesitate to attack me, criticize me, if I do wrong in my job,” he said. Media
world has been topsy-turvy ever since he assumed office. Speaking as a
representative of the office of the highest position in the land, many of his
speeches have been colorful and downright blunt, making him an everyday
headline. And with this fresh tough-talking president, sometimes the press
can’t help but be critical,
even be criticized themselves for so-called ‘clickbait headlines’.
The government, on the other hand, has been defending his speeches being taken out of context, like the expletives at the Pope, the rape joke, or the
expletives blurted while being asked about US President Barack Obama. It even
stressed that the media should be more professional and responsible not to try changing the context of what was said.
So to avoid these mistakes, Duterte once boycotted the press and endorsed state-controlled
media to be people’s source of news from Malacañang. Now, if this word war
escalated, who knows what can happen.
4. Government Composition
The success of martial law lies heavily on the
president’s command of the armed forces and military force. For one, when Fidel
Ramos, former chief of Philippine Constabulary, broke off from Marcos
administration, the regime took a great blow in controlling the people power
revolution of 1986. And the success of continuing the martial law lies on
Congress and its majority according to 1987 constitution as it has the sole
power to extend the declaration or vest emergency powers to the president.
The appointment of Lt. Gen. Ricardo Visaya as the
first Armed Forces of the Philippines chief-of-staff of the new administration met criticisms from human rights group Karapatan, citing his link to the
controversial Gen. Jovito Palparan and his involvement as a ground commander
during the Hacienda Luisita massacre. There were no cases filed yet and
Duterte, while discussing his appointment of Visaya, defended that it is not
fair to take his friendship with Palparan against him. Of course, we also have
the very visible Philippine National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa – arguably
crafted from the same branch of tree as the president.
The current senate president elected by majority
of the senators is Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, also the president of the
political party PDP-LABAN in which Duterte is the national chairman. The
current speaker of the house elected by majority of the representatives is
Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, secretary-general of the same party. Even
Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who as former president declared martial
law in Maguindanao herself, is one of the deputy speakers. Liberal Party also
enjoyed this setup for the last three years of previous administration. But
with the current political environment where anything can happen with a very
robust presidency, it is safe to say that Duterte has the support of the
congress and armed forces in his decisions for the country, for now.
3. State of
National Emergency
The constitution is quite unclear on declaring a state of emergency. It gives,
however, the president the power to call all armed forces to suppress lawless
violence in a part or of the whole country. This specific provision is cited by
Malacañang when it declared a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence through Proclamation 55
days after the bombing incident in Davao.
The government has repeatedly appeased the public
that this is not
martial law nor a prelude to one, as some critics would infer.
There are no curfews and no suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, as that
would only be applicable in an invasion or rebellion that endangers public
safety. With this declaration though, he may “invite uniformed personnel to run the country according to his specifications."
Even though this was pertaining to the Davao blast, it’s indefinite duration
covers the enter country because according to presidential legal adviser
Salvador Panelo, “the threats are not only in Davao but also in key cities nationwide. So why localize
the declaration?” In fact, Malacañang was preparing to declare a state of
lawlessness even before the bombing.
The proclamation explicitly states that the
military must abide by the constitution and respect the human rights of all
civilians. The move received polarizing reactions. Most notable of which are
from Sen. Richard Gordon, who even agreed the President should be granted the authority to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and from Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who presupposes that this could lead to “like what happened when former
president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of lawlessness, and it
spawned unwarranted illegal arrests, which the Supreme Court no less debunked
as illegal.”
2. Accepting
Marcos
Ferdinand Marcos served the country as a soldier
and a president and should be buried in Libingan ng mga Bayani (LNMB) according
to AFP rules.
But we can’t erase the fact that he declared martial law that led to numerous
violations of human rights and extrajudicial killings for which tranches of remuneration to the victims are still ongoing.
From the onset, Duterte supports burying the
former president in LNMB so as to erase the hatred that has divided the nation. “The law says that Marcos is qualified to be buried there, as a soldier. They are
contesting whether Marcos was a hero. I don’t care. Whether he was a hero or
not, he was a soldier,” he said. But it might have been the unfortunate name of
the cemetery that keeps on preventing the burial at the cemetery. A person
interred in Libingan ng mga Bayani would consequently be referred as a bayani, a thought martial law victims
don’t want to embrace for Marcos.
If it’s not enough, let’s look at the last vice
presidential elections where his son, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., almost
clinched the victory, some supporters even claiming that he was cheated. He
might not be like his father and his father’s sins might not have to be taken
as his. But electing a Marcos in Malacañang proves that we are ready for a
Marcos’ brand of leadership. It’s the same reason we elected Noynoy Aquino,
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or anyone with the same last name as their
predecessors: they might not be exactly like their parents but in Philippine
political scenario, electing them means we approve of what their brand of
leadership represents and we want that to continue.
1. People want
it
People who are tired of the crippling drug
problems and rising crime rates are actually seeing the extrajudicial killings
as a tangible move to fix the country. Especially the youth who were born after
the martial law imposition, many believe that it was for the sake of addressing peace and order. "Many of today's youth have not experienced martial law, and say things that I don't
think they really know about," martial law victim Bonifacio Ilagan says. Some even call the Marcos administration was the golden age of the country.
It can’t be erased, though, that martial law has a
certain stigma for the country. Even the Duterte administration acknowledges
the “dark pages of history during martial law.” While it repeatedly assures that martial law will never happen under Duterte, the sudden quip about declaring it and mulling over of the idea to impose it after the Davao blast make things more uncertain
than ever.
In all honesty, martial law can happen anytime as
long as there is an evidence of invasion or rebellion. But the survival and
continuance of its imposition again throughout the whole country depends on the
country’s political suitability to accept it. And these signs say it is. It is
now a question of whether that’s a good or bad thing.
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