Mindanao-based rights group slams SC for upholding martial law declaration

The Supreme Court symbol on its facade in Manila. (File photo LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

More than 50 members of the militant group Barug Katungod Mindanao (Mindanao Stand for Human Rights) trooped on Thursday to the Supreme Court (SC) to protest its decision affirming President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in the southern region.

In a report by Radyo Inquirer 990, the militants from Mindanao staged protest actions on Padre Faura Street in Manila to denounce the SC’s decision to junk the petitions questioning the constitutionality of Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

READ: SC upholds martial law declaration in Mindanao

Ryan Amper, spokesman of the group, said the SC justices who voted in favor of martial law declaration only gave the green light for the military to “harass” and “bomb” the Moros and Lumads in Mindanao.

In addition, Duterte, as the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, should also be held accountable for the military’s actions in Mindanao, Amper stressed.

The militants also marched toward the Department of Justice (DOJ) to protest the agency’s alleged failure to serve justice for indigenous people, farmers and human-rights defenders who ended up as victims of extra judicial killings. /jpv