Martial law fears raised in Legazpi

Noel Rosal —PHOTO FROM ROSAL’S FACEBOOK ACCOUNT

LEGAZPI CITY — A new order issued by the city government to monitor the movement of residents from village to village has run into resistance here with some critics describing it as unconstitutional.

But Mayor Noel Rosal sees nothing wrong with his executive order, which will require visitors in villages to report their presence to officials if their stay will last or exceed 24 hours.

The order also requires anyone traveling to a village of which he or she is not a resident to state his or her visit’s purpose and how long he or she is staying.

In a social media post, Jessica Imperial, resident of Bogtong village here, said the Bogtong village captain met residents to list down penalties for violators of Rosal’s Executive Order No. 26-2017.

“I really am so pissed off that my rights are being curtailed,” Imperial said in her social media post.

Violators face a P1,000 fine. Imperial said that while efforts to secure villages were welcome, village chairs “should not burden residents.”

Rosal, in an interview, said the order merely set up a registration mechanism for tracking visitors in support of President Duterte’s war on drugs.

“If we are in a normal situation, we will not have this. This has a purpose,” Rosal said. “I believe this is not just Duterte’s fight,” he said.

Some residents of the city and neighboring towns expressed fear that the order was a prelude to nationwide martial law.

In a statement, the National Union of People’s Lawyers said it would not “let sleeping dogs lie” and called the order an “attack on our freedoms.”