FIFTEEN out of the 23 members of the Senate on Tuesday filed a resolution supporting President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao, saying there was no cause to revoke them.
The 15 senators who filed Senate Resolution No. 388 Monday were Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, Senators Juan Edgardo Angara, Nancy Binay, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian, Richard Gordon, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Loren Legarda, Manny Pacquiao, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri.
The signatories are all part of the Senate majority bloc. Only two members from the majority group—Senators Grace Poe and Francis Escudero—did not sign the resolution.
Poe explained that while she does not object to martial law, the Constitution does not require Congress or the Senate in particular to issue a resolution to support it.
She also said that it would have been prudent for the Senate to reiterate the safeguards against abuse of martial law in the Constitution.
Escudero said there is no need for the Senate to pass a resolution affirming the proclamation of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao.
Escudero also said he did not sign the resolution because he didn’t know about the resolution.
“Nobody showed me a copy of the resolution,” he said.
The senator added that even if it were given to him, he would most likely not have signed it.
“Such a resolution is superfluous because the Constitution does not require it. The issue is not whether or not Congress will confirm martial law but whether or not Congress will revoke it. I would have voted against revocation at this time in a joint session once a member of Congress files a motion to so revoke.”
Escudero maintained that Congress need not convene to confirm martial law proclamation.
The Palace welcomed the support from the majority bloc in the Senate.
“We thank the Senate for its resolution expressing support for the President’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said.
“The President has acted swiftly and decisively to suppress the ongoing rebellion in Marawi and to prevent its spread in the provinces of Mindanao,” he added.
The resolution expresses “the sense of the Senate, supporting Proclamation No. 216 dated May 23, 2017 entitled ‘Declaring a state of martial law and suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao’ and finding no cause to revoke the same.”
It noted that on May 25, 2017, the Office of the President submitted to the Senate its report on the “factual and legal basis of the proclamation of martial law for Mindanao.”
“Part of the reason for the declaration was the series of violent acts committed by the Maute terrorist group, such as the attack on the military outpost in Butig, Lanao del Sur in February 2016,” read the majority resolution.
“The said attack resulted in the killing and wounding of several soldiers and the mass jailbreak in Marawi City in August 2016 which freed comrades of the terrorist group and other detainees.”
The measure also cited Maute group’s takeover of a hospital in Marawi City, burning of certain government and private facilities and wounding of government troops last May 23.
“They started flying the flag of the Islamic State in several areas,’ it pointed out.
Citing Article 134 of the Revised Penal Code, the resolution said, the acts committed by the Maute group were an “open attempt to remove from the allegiance to the Philippine government the part of Mindanao and deprive the Chief Executive of its powers and prerogatives to enforce laws of the land and to maintain public order and safety in Mindanao, hence constitutes the crime of rebellion.”
“The Senate hereby supports fully Proclamation No. 216 and finds no compelling reason to revoke the same,” it further said.
On Monday, the six-person minority group filed a separate resolution urging Congress to convene in a joint session and deliberate on the martial law declaration and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the entire Mindanao.
The six minority members are Senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Leila de Lima, who has been detained at Camp Crame in Quezon City over drug charges.
In a media briefing yesterday, the opposition senators reiterated the need for Congress to convene a joint session to deliberate on Duterte’s martial law declaration.
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday defended President Duterte’s pronouncement on martial law declaration, saying Congress has to listen to the President and not the other way around.
“It is not stated in the Constitution that the President has to listen to Congress [on martial law],” Alvarez said at a news conference.
Alvarez said if he would be the President, he would not also listen to the judgment of Congress on matters that should be decided on by the chief executive.
“The Constitution provides that the President has to report to Congress [within 48 hours after the declaration of martial law]. He will report, and we will listen to him,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez also said it would be unfair to call Congress being subservient to the President when it refuses to hold a joint session immediately to review the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
“That is a very unfair statement. Congress is being called subservient when it agrees that the President is doing the right thing in accordance with the rule of law,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez also told critics of the President to go to Marawi and see for themselves the extent of the problem.
“Many of those complaining are not even from Mindanao,” Alvarez said.
Opposition lawmakers vowed to file a petition at the Supreme Court over Congress’ refusal to hold a joint session on martial law.
Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list and Tom Villarin of Akbayan, at a news conference, maintained that the House must sit with its Senate counterpart to find out if there was relevant and justifiable reason to declare martial law in the entire Mindanao.
“The coordinated and contrived refusal of the leadership of the House of Representatives and the Senate to jointly vote in joint session on whether or not to revoke the President’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao is a patent dereliction of a constitutional duty,” Lagman said.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, meanwhile, assured the diplomatic community that the administration would not allow abuses under martial law.
In his speech before 63 foreign ambassadors, Cayetano said Duterte was forced to declare martial law due to an actual rebellion, terrorism and the presence of ISIS on Philippine soil. With Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and John Paolo Bencito
