Akbayan representative Tom Villarin. PHOTO FROM VILLARIN’S FACEBOOK PAGE
MANILA — Opposition lawmakers are set to ask the Supreme Court this week to revoke President Duterte’s martial law declaration, saying there was not enough justification for the commander-in-chief to impose direct military control of the entire Mindanao only to run after “terrorist bandits” in Marawi City.
Akbayan partylist Rep. Tom Villarin said his partylist group, the independent minority bloc led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, and other organizations would file a petition for certiorari against Proclamation No. 216 and convince the high court to revoke it.
President Duterte and Executive Secretary Salvador Meldialdea, Jr. among those named respondents in the petition, Villarin said.
“We want (martial law) lifted and stopped. Martial law will be implemented for 60 days but given the situation, because there is no substantive basis and in terms of justification (which is rebellion or
invasion), there really is no invasion happening, and the process of (review) was not completed because Congress did not convene for a joint session,” Villarin said over DZBB.
Government forces have been fighting Maute rebels protecting Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon for two weeks now.
Mr. Duterte announced that he was declaring martial law to stop the Maute group that was backed by the Islamic State, and the Marawi incident was a result of the rebels’ attempt to establish a wilayat in the Philippines, as part of the caliphate that the extremists want to build.
Villarin said despite the six-hour hearing by the House committee of the whole on Monday, he and his fellow congressmen-petitioners remained unconvinced that Mr. Duterte’s martial law declaration was justified.
Villarin said for one, “there was never a recommendation from the security (officials).”
He said even the Armed Forces have said the situation in Marawi has been placed under control.
And most importantly, Proclamation No. 55, declared by Mr. Duterte in September 2016 after the Davao City blasts, has put the country under a national state of emergency already, Villarin said.
“The President really has the calling out powers (under Proclamation No. 55) so that the AFP could address all national emergencies,” the lawmaker explained.
Villarin said the Maute group was made up of “plain bandits, who just like the Abu Sayyaf, do kidnapping for ransom.”
“It’s not really rebellion. It’s plain terrorism. They wanted to destroy our way of life. They do not care about government. They do not want government to institute order,” Villarin said.
Villarin does not believe that martial law is the way to address terrorism, saying it has only achieved what the extremists want: to create a climate of fear.
People have been anxious of attacks and wary of possible human rights abuses, he said.
Villarin said government has been able to “spell out a clear plan of action” on how to fight terrorism.
“I don’t know if our people would appreciate martial law is a situation thar would be good for us in the long run because it will imperil our democracy and it would imperil our right to dissent, right to free speech and right of media to cover (in Mindanao). That is our fear,” he said.
“We do not want terrorism. We do not want to have a chaotic way of life. But just to say to give everything to the state, to one person our future, that is dangerous,” Villarin said. SFM
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