LAWYERS, lawmakers and some Mindanao residents on Monday filed a second petition asking the Supreme Court to reject the congressional approval of one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao.
The lawyers belonging to the National Union of People’s Lawyers, along with party-list representatives Carlos Zarate of Bayan Muna, Arlene Brosas and Emmie de Jesus of Gabriela, Ariel Casilao of Anakpawis, Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, and Sarah Elago of Kabataan and some Mindanao residents urged the high court to nullify the extension for its alleged lack of factual basis as required by the 1987 Constitution and because of the absence of rebellion in the south.
They made their petition even as Malacañng and Congress asked the Supreme Court to dismiss for lack of merit the first petition filed by a group of opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman seeking to nullify the one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao.
In a comment, the executive and legislative departments through the Office of the Solicitor General said the petitioners failed to fulfill their burden of proving by evidence that there was no factual basis for extending martial law in Mindanao.
Solicitor General Jose Calida said the extension of martial law was simply necessary.
According to the petitioners, President Rodrigo Duterte had even admitted that the government had achieved victory over the ISIS-linked Maute terror group in October last year after a nearly five-month campaign to drive them out from Marawi City.
“Hence, by the government’s own admission, there actually exists no factual or legal basis to support the extension of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao,” the petitioners said.
They said the extension violated the provisions of the Constitution, which only allows the imposition of martial law when there is an actual rebellion or invasion and when the operations of the civilian government are substantially impaired and public safety requires its declaration.
In a joint session on Dec. 13 last year, both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved and granted the request of Duterte for a one-year extension of martial law.
Duterte cited the assessment of the military and the police pointing to the continuing recruitment of terrorist groups in Mindanao, the increasing violence of the communist New People’s Army and the need to speed up the rehabilitation of Marawi.
The government said aside from the Maute, more than a dozen terrorist groups were also present and recruiting members in Mindanao.
However, the petitioners said this only showed that the government’s arguments for the extension of martial law had no basis, and that the government could not even explain the specific martial law powers it needed against the armed groups.