Palace: Leni ‘amplifying’ Duterte’s remark on ML She makes it appear as if President will declare martial law — Abella
MALACAÑANG chided yesterday Vice President Leni Robredo for “amplifying” an earlier statement of President Rodrigo Duterte that he wanted to amend the 1987 Constitution to give him sole authority in declaring martial law.
“Vice President Leni seems to have amplified her concerns [over Duterte’s pronouncement]. And it seems to make it appear as if the President was actually planning on doing it (declaring a martial law). But if you read it in context, it was not exact. It was not that way,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told a press conference.
Abella was referring to the President’s plan to amend the Constitution to exclude the Congress and the Supreme Court from the process in declaring martial law.
The 1987 Constitution provides that before declaring martial law, the President must first have the approval of the Congress and the SC.
In a speech delivered in Angeles City, Pampanga last Friday, Duterte said the need to change a constitutional provision
Earlier the President expressed his desire to amend the Constitution to exclude Congress and the Supreme Court from the process in declaring martial law
that gives Congress and the High Court the power to retract or support a President’s decision to declare martial law.
Duterte, however, did not explain the changes he wants to do in the Constitution.
“If I declare martial law if there’s an invasion now or a war, I cannot proceed on and on, especially if there’s chaos. I’ll have to go to Congress, I’ll have to go to the Supreme Court,” the President said.
“What if the Supreme Court says something else, Congress says yes, the other says no, the other one says no and the other says yes, where do I position myself? So I really need to change that,” he added.
This had prompted Robredo to say that that it was “appalling” that Duterte wanted to amend the Constitution. The Vice President said she would not allow Duterte to revise the Charter and warned the public against the “threat of martial law.”
“Let us remain vigilant against the threat of martial law and fight against any move that will curtail our freedoms,” Robredo said.
“This is not a battle we will take sitting down and make our voices heard for the sake of protecting our freedom and fighting for the truth.”
Abella, however, maintained that Duterte would not declare martial law unless there is a need to “protect and preserve the safety of the people.”
“In context, the President was saying that if martial law were to be taken for what it’s supposed to be, which is to protect and preserve the safety of the people, then it should be facilitated,” he said.
Duterte earlier said he was not keen on declaring martial law but in several instances, he had hinted that he may do so “to meet widespread violence.”