No SC order vs martial law extension

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court has not issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) on the one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao, which starts tomorrow.

But it ordered the leaders of Congress and other officials to comment on the petition filed by opposition lawmakers to have its implementation stopped. The tribunal earlier found the petition “sufficient in form and substance.”       

“This augurs well for the petition, which has survived the preliminary gauntlet which petitions have to pass through in the high court,” lead petitioner Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay said yesterday.

He said the two extensions of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao up to Dec. 31, 2018 “have a combined total of 526 days.”

“Five hundred twenty-six days total extension is an enormous increase of 876.67 percent over the original period of 60 days. This is inordinately long. It is a deplorable defiance of the constitutional limitation of the duration of martial law and its extension,” Lagman added.        

The first extension, which covers six months, expires today.

Lagman stressed that the Constitution li its the period for declaring martial law, and necessarily its extension, to deter abuses.

“This means that a valid extension must comply with the following requisites: a joint session of the Congress must act on the extension, it must be based on the limited grounds of actual rebellion or invasion when public safety requires it, and it must be only for a reasonably short duration. A full year re-extension, aside from being factually unwarranted, is oppressively long and patently unconstitutional,” he argued.

The lawmaker also chided Solicitor General Jose Calida for saying the petitioners do not know better than President Duterte and the majority of lawmakers who approved the request for a year-long extension of martial law.

“Solicitor General Calida must limit himself to the legal issues raised in the petition questioning the constitutionality of the extension of martial law and of the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao. He should not meander into proclaiming that the President and the supermajority of the Congress are above the Constitution as if they could do no wrong,” Lagman said. 

In filing the petition, Lagman was joined by opposition Reps. Edgar Erice of Caloocan City, Teodoro Baguilat Jr. of Ifugao and Emmanuel Billones of Capiz, and party-list Reps. Gary Alejano of Magdalo and Tom Villarin of Akbayan.