Senators shrug off martial law threat

“He has said that before and I don’t think he is serious about that,” Sen. Richard Gordon said on Wednesday of President Duterte’s threat to declare martial law to carry out his war against illegal drugs.

Senators Panfilo Lacson, Sonny Angara and Vicente Sotto III agreed.

“His bullheadedness is epic. By now we should be familiar with his antics. When he makes statements in the media, there are statements we should take seriously, there are some we should take lightly,” Lacson said.

“I don’t believe he will resort to it…  I don’t think people should be alarmed because when you say we might have martial law in the Philippines, there are effects on the market, there are effects on investors’ decisions. So I think, we should not overplay with what I think what was not meant seriously,” Angara said.

Even Salvador Panelo, the bejeweled chief presidential legal counsel, did not think Mr. Duterte would carry out his threat, although the President would be justified if he resorted to martial law.

“The Constitution says the President can declare martial law not only in cases of invasion or rebellion, but when public safety requires it. Right now, the safety of the public is in imminent danger,” Panelo told a news briefing in Malacañang.

But he quickly clarified, “I don’t think the President will do that.”

Mr. Duterte on Tuesday raised the possibility of clamping the nation under martial law in an angry retort to a letter from Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, who suggested that his directive on Sunday to 159 soldiers, policemen and officials, including seven judges, infringed on the powers of the Supreme Court.

“It would matter greatly to our sense of constitutional order,” she said in her letter on Monday, if the high tribunal would be allowed to discipline its ranks as mandated by law. She cautioned judges against heeding Mr. Duterte’s order to submit themselves to investigation.

On Tuesday, the court formed a fact-finding committee to look into the possibility of filing administrative cases against four of the judges Mr. Duterte had named, pointing out that one had died, another had been fired for ignorance of the law and another had retired.

Slippery slope

“If this is how the administration, particularly the President, treats any kind of dissent, even the most respectful expression of a differing opinion, then that is really worrisome. This is what I’ve been calling a slippery slope toward totalitarianism,” said Sen. Leila de Lima.

Sereno was just “trying to protect the independence of the judiciary,” said De Lima, the self-styled Duterte fiscalizer.

“Sometimes, loose pronouncements can be misinterpreted,” said former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

He said Mr. Duterte’s underlying message was adherence to the rule of law. “That’s what he told the police: I will support you as long as you perform your duties in accordance with the law.”

Impeachment

Mr. Duterte’s threat also raised hackles in the House of Representatives.

“He is inviting not just impeachment but extralegal measures,” said Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque. “There could even be people power.”

Said Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, “Any statement by an incumbent President threatening that he would declare martial law must be taken seriously.”

Panelo, in his interview with reporters, said that the people already knew that Mr. Duterte had warned he would close down Congress if its members “will not be cooperative with respect to the platforms and programs he would undertake.”

“The Filipinos, in voting him to a landslide win, have already given him the mandate to do the things that he has promised us during the campaign. So how can that be a chilling effect?”

Public safety

Asked if the current situation was ripe for such an emergency, Panelo said, “If he feels that public safety requires declaration of martial law, then constitutionally he can do it.”

Panelo doused insinuations that the Duterte administration was exaggerating the severity of the drug menace to justify the killings of drug suspects.

He said law enforcement agencies noted that nearly 98 percent of barangay across the country were “infiltrated” by illegal drugs.

Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar sought to downplay the word war with Sereno.

“We have an action man for a President who believes justice delayed is justice denied,” Andanar said.

“He is the type, who, at the onset of his presidency, simply wants to hit the ground running and rid society of drugs, crime and corruption with urgency,” he added. Reports from Tarra Quismundo, Marlon Ramos, Gil C. Cabacungan and Jovic Yee

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