Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO/RYAN LEAGOGO
Minority lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman have filed a petition at the Supreme Court (SC) for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the extension of martial law in Mindanao for another year.
In a 29-page petition filed on Wednesday, the lawmakers said that there is “no actual rebellion” in Mindanao to justify the re-extension, and that it should be declared “null and void.”
“The extension of one year from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 of the period of martial law in Mindanao defies the Constitution’s unmistakable mandate of a limited duration of the declaration of martial law and its extension,” the petition read.
The lawmakers explained that since the words “imminent danger” was taken out as a ground in the request to extend martial law, threats posed by terror groups would not constitute a constitutional basis.
Congress, in a special joint session last Dec. 13, voted 240-27 to approve Duterte’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao for another year.
The petitioners said Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez “unduly constricted” the period of deliberation and interpellation during the special joint session last Dec. 13.
“There is no actual rebellion in Mindanao and the re-extension is extremely long even as the approval was made with undue haste and unscrupulous imprudence,” the petitioners said.
“The absence of factual basis was seriously compounded by lack of sufficient opportunity accorded to interested legislators to underscore the insufficiency of factual basis,” they said.
Aside from Lagman, other petitioners were Representatives Tom Villarin, Edgar Erice, Teddy Brawner Baguilat, Jr., Gary Alejano and Emmanuel Billones.
Named respondents are Pimentel, Alvarez, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief-of-Staff General Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
Solicitor General Jose Calida, who defended the Duterte’s martial law declaration at the SC, earlier warned those who would challenge the newly approved martial law extension.
“To those who intend to challenge the extension of martial law before the Supreme Court, I wish you luck. You’ll need it,” the solicitor general said on Twitter on Dec. 13. /jpv
Related story: Calida to opponents of martial law: ‘I wish you luck’