No martial law under Duterte gov’t – Speaker

Martial law will never happen under the Duterte administration, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez told a news conference yesterday.

Asked why he was so confident in making such a statement, Alvarez said, “I know him, he will not do it.” The President has declared a state of lawlessness following the market bombing in Davao City two weeks ago. Many people feared a martial law declaration would follow such a pronouncement.As for the proposal of Sen. Richard Gordon for Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to strengthen the administration’s fight against illegal drugs, Alvarez said he would study it. Other congressmen said Gordon’s proposal is unnecessary. Opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay said Duterte has the authority to suspend the writ of habeas corpus without prior authorization from Congress “in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.” However, he said the suspension would “apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent in or directly connected with invasion, not to drug related cases.” “Gordon’s proposal falls into the perceived calibrated scheme of the President increasingly exercising emergency powers, from a declaration of a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence to possibly culminating in a declaration of martial law,” he said. Rep. Harry Roque of party-list group Akbayan said Gordon’s proposal is “patently unconstitutional.” “Section 18, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution states that the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can only be suspended by the President by reason of invasion or rebellion, and subject to legal and judicial challenge on legal and factual basis,” he said. “The writ of habeas corpus has been, and still remains, the best guarantee for the right to liberty. Suspending the writ of habeas corpus and revoking civil liberties is a slippery and dangerous path to martial law. And as no such invasion or rebellion has occurred, there is no legal standing for the President to suspend the writ,” he said. For his part, Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said the Gordon proposal “is unwarranted as it may even lead to more human rights violations.” “As it is, some concerns on the guidelines of Presidential Proclamation 55 on warrantless arrests are already being raised and should be clarified by Malacañang. The fight against drugs and terrorism should go full steam ahead but not at the expense of human rights and civil liberties that our countrymen have fought for so hard to attain,” he said.