Rody’s martial law
I MET 20-year-old Morao Jamilah Ander Agar who left her home town of Marawi for Bacolod City so she can escape war and mayhem. I took a snap of Morao, a Muslim, while she was transacting sales of a smartphone accessory with an elderly Roman Catholic nun.
This week, I introduced myself and showed her the picture I took. Since business was slow, I got to talk to Morao who immigrated and found peace in the largely Christian City of Smiles, even as she’s concerned of the family she left behind in Mindanao.
Immigrated? It seems more like she escaped the war and turmoil in her province. Bacolod is far peaceful than Marawi. But maybe not for long. President Rodrigo Duterte has just declared martial law in the whole Mindanao.
Next will it be the Visayas as he threatened to do? As perplexed netizens pointed out, former President Gloria Arroyo declared martial law in Maguindanao to crush the power of the Ampatuans. And more human lives were lost in 2009.
And now three lives are lost. Duterte placed the whole Mindanao under martial rule. Weird.
Troops in Negros Island Region are on full alert following the Maute attacks in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. I see no problem with that.
Better safe than sorry. Checkpoints are minor inconveniences, so long as the uniformed forces follow the Police Operational (engagement) Procedures. But civilians have something more to worry about.
Duterte threatened “I may also decide to suspend writ of habeas corpus in the Visayas. If there’s an open defiance, you will die. If it means many people dying, so be it.
If I sense that terrorism is taking foothold even in Luzon, I might declare #MartialLaw throughout the country.” Last year, he threatened the country what kind of martial law that he is envisioning.
“If you have martial law, only one person should be in control. If there’s invasion or war and I declare martial law, I cannot proceed on and on to deal with the trouble as I still have to go to Congress, go to the Supreme Court,” he added.
“That’s why that needs to be replaced.” Will that mean the country can kiss goodbye to checks-and-balances that makes independent of the co-equal branches of the executive, legislature and judiciary?
Everything will be subsumed to the executive. A dictatorship, in other words. If Morao is seeking a life of peace and survival here in Bacolod, that might not happen if martial law is declared not only in the Visayas and Luzon.