No more martial law

MANY among us are now jittery over the prospect of President Rody Duterte declaring martial law even with any basis under the constitution, which specifically tells us martial law can only be declared in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.

What will be its basis? Would it be the protests against the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. who declared martial law over the land?

Where is the invasion? Where is the rebellion? We are however assured by Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa that they have no plans of declaring martial law.

He issued the statement after President Duterte declared a state of lawlessness in the country and the police raised their terror alert to level three.

But we have to remember there is a big difference between a plan to declare martial law and to declare martial law without planning it. Please listen to Bato. He said, “We have no plans to declare martial law. The President did not order a declaration of martial law.”

See, no order from the president. And they’re not even thinking about it, Bato said. “We are not thinking about it. That’s the least of our concerns,” Bato said.

How many police and military officers did you know were thinking about martial law when Marcos declared it? Bato said he would not advise President Duterte to declare martial law as he himself was a victim of police violence during the martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

He recounted how they were brought to the PC barracks for violating the curfew after watching a boxing match at midnight. He said the PC lined them up, and threatened to shoot them with their machine guns. The PC ordered them to say their prayers because they were going to kill them by firing squad.

Well, that didn’t happen. General Bato, you survived Marcos’s martial law. But some 5,000 people did not survive the war against illegal drugs, so far.