Senator Joker Arroyo hits President Aquino’s ‘creeping martial law’

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Joker Arroyo has accused the Aquino administration of imposing a “creeping martial law,” citing the government’s actions against former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

And the Supreme Court decision to stop the travel ban against the former leader, the senator said, put a stop on this “totalitarian tendencies” of the Aquino government.

“The Supreme Court has put a stop, put a brake on the totalitarian tendencies of this government. We already have a creeping martial law here that we don’t only notice,” the senator told reporters on Tuesday.

“It’s a tendency. The trend is here,’ said Senator Arroyo, who was a human rights lawyer during the dictatorship regime of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Senator Arroyo was a staunch ally of Aquino’s parents, the late President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr, who was assassinated during the time of Marcos.

“The creeping authoritarianism, that is what the SC did say in effect: ‘We are still here. Don’t think you can mess around with anything,” he added.

Arroyo, a member of the opposition group in the Senate, has also criticized the government’s move to impound the 2012 budget for unfilled positions. But because of strong oppositions, the executive department decided to return the budget for unfilled position in constitutional commissions and the legislative body.