“How can a mere extension be inordinately longer than the original proclamation sought to be extended?”
This was the question posed by opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman as they asked the Supreme Court (SC) to declare “null and void” the year-long extension of martial law in Mindanao.
According to the lawmakers, extending martial law in Mindanao for another year “defies” the 1987 Constitution’s “unmistakable” mandate to limit the duration of military rule.
“It stands to reason that any authorized extension must be similarly limited in duration,” their 29-page petition stated, explaining that a martial law declaration, as stated in the Constitution, should not exceed 60 days.
“Unlike in the 1935 and 1973 Constitutions when the respective durations of martial law and the suspension of the writ were limitless, the 1987 Constitution mandates that the period of martial law and suspension of the writ shall not exceed sixty days,” they said.
They said Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez “violated and exceeded” the congressional authority under the Constitution, which prescribed a one-time extension.
“A strict construction of the power of the Congress to extend martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus upon the initiative of the President requires that an extended period cannot anymore be extended,” the petition stated.
“Otherwise, the intention and mandate of the Constitution limiting the period of martial law and the suspension of the writ and the extension thereof would be breached,” they said.
The lawmakers added that the President was “not authorized” to keep on requesting for extensions and “defy” in the process the constitutional limitations on the period of martial law.
“Once a one-time extension expires and the President has sufficient factual basis to believe that rebellion still persists, then he can declare martial law anew subject to a maximum 60-day period and the oversight powers of the Congress and the Supreme Court,” the petitioners said.
During a special joint session on Dec. 13, Congress voted 240-27 to approve Duterte’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao for another year.
Besides Pimentel and Alvarez, the other respondents in the petition are Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Armed Forces chief Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
The Constitution states that any citizen may question the martial law declaration’s sufficiency of factual basis before the SC. The court must issue a decision 30 days from filing. /atm