SC backs Gloria Arroyo on emergency issue

The Supreme Court has junked the petition of former ARMM Gov. Zaldy Ampatuan to declare as unconstitutional former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s order placing the entire Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao under a state of emergency in the wake of the Maguindanao massacre in 2009.

Ampatuan is accused together with several family members of being behind the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao, among them, the wife of a political rival and 31 journalists.

In a unanimous decision on June 7, the high tribunal said Ampatuan erred when he claimed that Arroyo’s Proclamation 1946 and two subsequent administrative orders encroached on the region’s autonomy.

Ampatuan was joined in the petition by acting ARMM Gov. Ansaruddin Adiong and Vice Gov. Regie Sahali-Generale.

The court dismissed their petition for “lack of merit.”

“Since petitioners are not able to demonstrate that the proclamation of the state of emergency… and the calling out of the Armed Forces… have clearly no factual bases, the court must respect the President’s act,” the court said.

The state of emergency was declared on Nov. 24, 2009, a day after the massacre, which shocked the nation and the world.

In its decision, the high court said Arroyo signed the administrative orders not to intrude into ARMM’s autonomy, but to ensure that peace and order were restored in the region following the mass killing.

The court said then Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, who was assigned to take charge of the situation, “did not take control of the powers of the ARMM” since he immediately appointed Adiong and Sahali-Generale as acting governor and vice governor, respectively, pursuant to the rule on succession of Republic Act No. 9054, the law which created the ARMM.

“In short, (Puno) did not take over the administration or operations of the ARMM,” the court ruled.

The magistrates also rejected Ampatuan et al.’s contention that Arroyo violated the Constitution when she put the ARMM under a state of emergency without the consent of Congress.

They said the former president’s order to deploy military and police forces to the region was part of her “calling out” power “to prevent or suppress lawless violence.”

“(It) is a power that the Constitution directly vests in the President. She did not need congressional authority to exercise the (power),” the tribunal said, adding that the imminence of violence and anarchy at the time was “too grave to ignore. The President had to act to prevent further bloodshed.”