Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin defends martial law extension

MANILA, Philippines — Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin yesterday defended the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) to uphold the legality of the third extension of martial law in Mindanao.

Bersamin said the magistrates were convinced of the need to extend martial law in Mindanao, despite the alleged discrepancies in the military’s intelligence reports on the security situation in the region.

“The majority believes that the President and the Congress were able to establish sufficient factual basis for extending the proclamation of martial law (in Mindanao),” Bersamin told reporters on the sidelines of his formal visit to the justices and employees of the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in Quezon City yesterday.

In a 9-4 vote, the SC on Tuesday dismissed the four petitions challenging the constitutionality of the extension of Proclamation No. 216 for another year or until December 2019.

Bersamin said the SC will release a copy of its decision early next week. He maintained, however, that the majority voted in favor of the martial law extension by virtue of the constitutional power of the President to act on emergency security situations based on all the information he has.

“The reason why the Constitution lodges to the President this power to declare martial law is to enable somebody in the Philippines to make a quick response whenever there is emergency,” Bersamin said.

“The President is the commander-in-chief and it’s only natural to give him that power. Whatever the facts he receives which is not available to the ordinary citizens like us, we should respect his determination of that. It’s a judgment call,” he added.

Bersamin made the statement despite the petitioners’ claim that there is no longer a rebellion or invasion in Mindanao that would justify the extension of martial law as required under the 1987 Constitution.

The petitions were filed by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, the Makabayan bloc of lawmakers led by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate, the group led by former elections chief Christian Monsod and the group of Lumad teachers and students represented by the Free Legal Assistance Group.

The petitioners said the attacks by terror groups and other violent incidents that took place in Mindanao last year, as well as the twin bombings at the Jolo Catheral last month, were just acts of terrorism, not a situation of rebellion or invasion.

During the oral arguments on the petitions last Jan. 29, Associate Justice Benjamin Caguioa questioned the accuracy of the military’s intelligence reports on the situation in Mindanao.

While the military attributed 74 incidents to the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, Caguioa said only 23 of these were identified with certainty as initiated by the BIFF.

Caguioa also noted some of the listed incidents have no identified perpetrators.

Bersamin said inconsistencies in the military reports are not sufficient to supersede the President’s determination that there is a need for martial law in Mindanao.

“But when you note some inconsistencies or weaknesses, that is not sufficient to undo the determination of the President because accuracy is not the question here. The question here is what is the information that the President acted upon,” Bersamin said.

“Whether that information is true or not is irrelevant. If there was false information and the President did not know it [to be false] but nonetheless acted upon it, the theory is, it is still within the competence of the President to make a decision on that,” he added.