National emergency mulled
Palace cites spate of criminality, including killing of pregnant prosecutor
The “radical changes” that President Duterte said would happen soon stemmed from the recent spate of criminality in the country, including the killing of a pregnant prosecutor early this week, Malacañang explained on Thursday.
In his Wednesday pre-dawn speech, Duterte warned criminals and erring officials to behave as he promised that radical changes will take effect in the next few days to address certain issues in public order and security.
“There will be changes in the coming days, including public order and security. There are simply too many crimes and too many... claiming to be this and that,” Duterte said
upon his arrival from his three-day visit in Seoul, South Korea.
Duterte said he will not hesitate to exercise his powers to address these issues.
“Well, remember that there is... there's no difference actually between martial law and a declaration of national emergency,” he said.
“Well, somehow, even with this meager emergency power, I will use it to the hilt to put things in order,” he added.
But Presidential spokesman Harry Roque assured that under the context of President Duterte’s speech, he was referring to state of national emergency, not martial law, when he was talking about radical changes.
He said there are no plans to expand nationwide the coverage of martial law, which is now currently implemented in Mindanao.
“Ay hindi po. Martial law po is Mindanao (No, there are no talks about it. Martial law is in Mindanao only),” he said.
Roque, however, raised the possibility of placing the entire Philippines under martial law if the situation calls for its declaration.
“If there are legal and factual basis, that's in the Constitution. Pero doon sa konteksto po ng speech po niya, ang binanggit niya ay (But in the context of his speech, what the President mentioned was) state of national emergency,” Roque said.
Roque, in his Thursday press briefing, said the public can expect that the government will intensify its campaign against criminality and illegal drugs.
“So 'yung kanyang sinabi po na abangan ang mga reporma, 'yan po ay dahil gusto pa niyang paigtingin ang giyera laban sa kriminalidad at ipinagbabawal na droga (So he wishes to implement some reforms because he wants to intensify the war on criminality and illegal drugs),” he said.
"Siguro po, kaya nga na-frustrate ang Presidente, dalawang prosecutor po ang napatay, isa po buntis pa. At may mga bali-balita po ng increase ng mga holdapan sa Metro Manila (Maybe, the President got frustrated because two prosecutors were killed, including one who was pregnant. There are also reports of increase in the number of robbery cases in Metro Manila),” he added.
Duterte had also cited reports of people not coming to work for fear of being kidnapped or being killed. He said he will not hesitate to exercise his powers to address these issues.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar Albayalde is now waiting for orders from the President on how to implement the “radical changes,” Roque said.
“We can only hope that the ‘radical action’ against crime and corruption he’s planning to take refers only to a more aggressive action by our law enforcement agencies in crime prevention and suppression based on duly established procedures and anchored on good intelligence gathering methods, rather than an indiscriminate or shotgun-like approach that could affect the civil rights of our population at large,” Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson, a former PNP chief and current chairman of the Senate Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee, said.
“Further, a better and more systematic gun control program and implementation might also help,” Lacson added.
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes believes the Chief Executive is exaggerating the crimes in the country so he could place the entire Philippines under martial law.
“His statement is worrying because he seems to justify his dictatorial tendency by citing that many crimes are committed,” he said in an interview.
Last Monday, 33-year-old pregnant Ombudsman Prosecutor Madonna Joy Tanyag was stabbed to death as she was walking on the sidewalk in Barangay Varsa, Quezon City.
Roque said President Duterte recognizes that the fight against criminality and illegal drugs can still be improved.
“The President reiterated that while we have been combating crime and prohibited drugs since day one of his administration, apparently we can do more,” he said.
“The President recognizes the room for improvement as far as the fight against criminality is concerned, and hence, his recent pronouncement two nights ago," he added.
When asked what the President meant by a “meager” emergency power, Roque said Duterte might be referring to the state of national emergency as the least intrusive among a president's extraordinary powers.
“As far as the powers of the President are concerned, the least intrusive is the state of national emergency. That could be what he meant by meager in terms of exercise of extraordinary powers," Roque said.
Roque also explained what Duterte meant when he said there is no difference between a declaration of a state of national emergency, and a declaration of martial law.
“Perhaps he was referring to the fact that these are both powers of the President as commander-in-chief and that they both entail the military taking on active role in what is purely civilian,” he said.
“The calling out power is when you call out the Armed Forces of the Philippines and not just rely on civilian institutions such as the Philippine National Police,” he added.
Meanwhile, Roque said he is unsure which offices are being considered to be placed under the Office of the President (OP).
In his Wednesday speech, Duterte said he is thinking of placing problematic agencies under the OP so he can personally see them.
Global Peace Index
As this developed, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana expressed disbelief that the Philippines has been tagged as second least peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific Region.
Lorenzana said he cannot believe that the country will be ranked that low by the Global Peace Index in its recent study as people can go around in many areas around the country very peacefully.
“I think they are using some parameters that are not present in the Philippines. Just because there is war on drugs, the country is least peaceful? In fact, a lot of people are saying that their lives are more peaceful now because of the war on drugs,”Lorenzana said. (With reports from Mario B. Casayuran, Leslie G. Aquino, and Francis T. Wakefield)