Lorenzana confident of favorable SC decision on martial law

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana expressed confidence on Monday that the Supreme Court would uphold President Rodrigo Duterte’s proclamation of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao.

Lorenzana, the martial law administrator, told reporters that he was “very confident” the magistrates would support the constitutionality of the declaration.

“I look forward to seeing that they will say that this is legal for the President to declare martial law in the first place,” he said on the eve of a full-court session of the high tribunal to decide three petitions questioning the issuance of Proclamation No. 216 on May 23 after Islamic State-allied terrorists rampaged through Marawi City.

Lorenzana said he and Gen. Eduardo Año, the Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff, asked to give a briefing on the factual basis of the emergency declaration, discussed on June 15 with the magistrates the security situation in Marawi and the rest of Mindanao.

“I believe we have sufficiently or competently answered all the questions on the basis of martial law,” he said.

Security situation

Lorenzana said the military was still checking the security situation in Mindanao to determine if martial law should be lifted.

“We’ll wait for a couple of weeks more so that we will see the real picture. We don’t have yet the necessary information to recommend the continuation or [lifting] of martial law,” Lorenzana said.

Terrorists from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups, with help from some foreign fighters seized Marawi on May 23 in a bid to set up a province of the Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia. A government air and ground assault to recover Marawi is now in its seventh week.

Lorenzana said security officials would look in particular at the capability of the terrorists “to launch more attacks” in other areas of Mindanao, specifically referring to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“Let’s not forget the BIFF. They have more than 500 people and they’re armed,” Lorenzana said.

Factual basis of proclamation

The Supreme Court’s draft decision on the three petitions challenging the constitutionality of the President’s declaration has affirmed the factual basis of Proclamation No. 216, according to a senior government official.

Interestingly, the draft ruling was written by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who had earlier warned that Mr. Duterte’s decision might coax him to put the entire country under military rule.

The source, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said Del Castillo’s draft resolution was just one of the opinions circulated to the magistrates, who were set to vote on the contentious legal issue during their regular weekly session on Tuesday.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the 15-member court must resolve the petitions questioning the legality of the martial law proclamation within 30 days, or until July 5.

The official, who was able to read Del Castillo’s 85-page draft resolution, declined to disclose if Del Castillo’s opinion had the support of the majority of the justices.

“It’s too early to tell. What I can say is that all the justices have their own opinions and arguments in arriving at their decision,” the source told the Inquirer.

Bottom line

The official, however, said there was a “great possibility” that most of the justices would vote to dismiss the petitions and uphold the President’s martial law declaration.

“The bottom line here is that the threat of Isis is no joke. The threat is real and it’s here,” the official said, using an alternative acronym for IS.

If most of the justices vote to support Del Castillo’s opinion, it would be adopted as the tribunal’s majority ruling.

It would become the primary dissenting opinion if his colleagues opted to oppose his views.