Congress tackles ML extension today
The House of Representatives and the Senate will tackle today President Duterte’s request for the extension of martial law in Mindanao for another year up to the end of 2019.
Members of the two chambers will convene in joint session at the Batasan complex in Quezon City for this purpose starting at 9:30 a.m. They are expected to approve the President’s request.
In a letter to Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the President said another year of martial law in Mindanao is needed since rebellion in the region still persists.
It’s his third extension request. Toward the latter part of 2017, Duterte asked Congress to lengthen his martial law declaration in May of that year by six months. Before the past year ended, he appealed for a one-year extension up to the end of this year.
As in the two previous extensions, administration and security officials are expected to defend the President’s latest request.
Preparatory to today’s joint session, officials briefed sena- tors on the security situation in Mindanao on Monday. They held a separate briefing for House members yesterday.
Arroyo and Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. have assured the President that the House would give its concurrence to his martial law extension request. Senators are reportedly divided on it.
The two chambers will vote jointly on the presidential request.
“If it comes to our chamber, I will recommend that we pass it,” Arroyo has told reporters.
Andaya said they would approve the President’s proposal.
Other administration allies said they would heed Duterte’s appeal to prolong martial rule.
“It is the President, the military and our colleagues from Mindanao that know the situation in the area. We have to rely on their word. We cannot pretend to know better,” Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano III said.
Rep. Michael Romero of party-list group 1-Pacman said martial law would ensure the continued safety of residents, their properties and business establishments.
“Businesses should thrive. Peace of mind is priceless. If there is peace, then there is stability. And with stability comes progress,” he said.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte, House defense committee vice chairman, said he would support a request from the President and listen to the views of his colleagues from Mindanao.
“Mindanaoans are the ones experiencing what it’s like to live under martial law for a year-and-a-half now. They would have a better grasp of what is an acceptable option for them for continued peace and security,” he said.
Abra Rep. Joseph Bernos sees the approval of the proposed extension of martial law in Mindanao.
“It is what the people in Mindanao want and are asking,” said Bernos, vice chairman of the House Committee on public order and safety.
Support
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said all local officials in Mindanao support the extension of martial law in the region.
DILG spokesman Jonathan Malaya said the umbrella organization of municipal and city officials, the Union of Local Authorities in the Philippines (ULAP) has expressed support.
“According to our elected local government officials, martial law in Mindanao has led to improved peace and order in their areas. Who are we to argue against that?” Malaya said.
Malaya added the Philippine Councilors League is supportive of an extension and even passed a resolution.
“We had a meeting with the officials of ULAP led by Albay Governor Al Francis Bichara and he said that they are 100 percent behind the recommendation of DILG Secretary Eduardo Año on this matter,” he said.
Members of the Lamitan City council in Basilan said they even wanted martial law to be extended until after Duterte’s term of office ends in 2022.
“The security situation in Basilan has improved as a consequence of the massive implementation of infrastructure projects by the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in the past six years and the enforcement of martial law since 2017.Why rock the boat? Keep it on,” Councilor Joaquin Puri Jr. said.
Lamitan Mayor Rose Furigay and her husband Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay expressed their support to extend martial law.
“We have seen improvements in the investment climate of Lamitan City as a result of the martial law so it must be extended,” the vice mayor said.
Opposition lawmakers led by Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay however vowed to question a third martial law extension before the Supreme Court.
They had challenged the President’s May 2017 martial law declaration, but the high court sustained Duterte. No challenge was made against the first and second extensions.
Lagman said Duterte’s third request “mocks the Constitution for wanton absence of constitutional bases which are the presence of actual rebellion and public safety requires the extension.” “Rebellion does not persist in Mindanao and consequently public safety is not imperiled,” he said.
He said both Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana were “footdragging in recommending another martial law extension because it appears that it is not of critical immediacy and another extension is an admission that the military has failed to achieve the purported objectives of the previous martial law extensions.”
Lagman added Galvez’s justification that “there is public clamor for the extension is flawed because popular clamor is not a ground for martial law or its extension.” “Moreover, the alibi that ‘terrorists are still lurking in the area’ is not also a basis for extension because terrorism is not rebellion and the threat of terrorism, like the imminent threat of rebellion, is not a constitutional ground for martial law or its extension,” he stressed.
He pointed out that the old ground of “imminent threat of rebellion” has been removed in the 1987 Constitution because “threat is contingent, selfserving and nebulous.”