EDITORIAL - Never again to martial law? You mean let's Cha-cha?

The massacre of more than 50 people in Maguindanao and the subsequent declaration of martial law in that province are bad enough without some sectors making it worse by hijacking the issues to promote their own interests.

Just consider how leftist elements are now having a field day taking to the streets and brandishing placards with messages that confuse and disinform, thereby promoting conditions that are unproductive and conducive to unrest.

Among the more prominent pictures of rallies that have been splashed in the newspapers are those of rallyists with placards that scream: “Never Again To Martial Law!” To those who do not know, it sounds like a heroic battlecry against a terribly oppressive situation.

But wait. Isn't martial law enshrined in the Constitution as a valid instrument to address a particular situation? Doesn't the Constitution, in recognition of its validity, outline the circumstances by which the instrument of martial law can be wielded.

Of course the present imposition of martial law in Maguindanao is generating a great deal of controversy owing to the controversial circumstances by which it was declared. But for the leftists to scream “Never Again To Martial Law” is maliciously misleading and disinformative.

Martial law serves a purpose, which is presumably good, otherwise it would not have found its way into the Constitution. But just like many other things, it is in the implementation that things can go really awry. And that is what the leftists should be screaming about.

But granting the leftists are right and that martial law should never again be foisted upon the Filipino people, then the only way to do that would be to scrap it altogether from the Constitution.

To do that, it is necessary for us to amend the Constitution. But would the leftists be amenable to that, considering how loud they have also been screaming against charter change. It is damned if you do and damned if you don't for these people. No wonder they are marginalized.