Martial law a big no-no for ‘Bato’

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ronald ‘Bato’ Dela Rosa assured the public that the government has no intention of declaring martial law amid speculations that the series of security-related incidents in Metro Manila and Mindanao may prompt the national government to do otherwise.

“We have no plan to declare martial law... that’s the least of our concerns,” said Dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa said he himself opposes the declaration of martial law, having experienced it first hand when he was a teenager.

In fact, he said his father was a victim when members of the defunct Philippine Constabulary (PC) forced him to eat a very hot grilled fish with charcoal.

“My father’s face swelled as a result, that’s martial law for me,” said Dela Rosa.

“When we were still young, we were caught for violating the curfew because we watched a boxing match. We were forced to board a military truck and we were lined up with a machine gun in our front as if we would be subjected to firing squad. That’s martial law for me,” he added.

As such, Dela Rosa said he himself would oppose any plan to declare martial law under the present administration.

“With those experiences, do you think I would personally advise martial law,” he said.

Rumors of a declaration of martial law started to spread after the entire country was placed under terror alert level 3, which means a terror attack is imminent in a short period of time.

Recently, there are proposals of some allies of President Duterte to declare the suspension of the privilege of Writ of habeas corpus due to anti-drugs war as well as due to the rebellion of Mindanao led by the Maute Group.

But for Dela Rosa, he said he does not want martial law to be declared again in the country.

“If you were alive during that time, you would not want that to happen again,” said Dela Rosa.