Duterte rules out martial in Negros for now- Palace
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Tue, 06 Aug 2019 11:31:07 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte ruled out declaring martial law in Negros Oriental for now despite a series of killings by suspected communist rebels, his spokesman said on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte believed that there was no actual rebellion in Negros Island that would warrant the declaration of martial law.
“Martial law will only be imposed in accordance with the Constitution. Just like in Negros, I asked him last night about Negros, ang sinabi niya (and he said), ‘You and I are lawyers, we know that we cannot just impose martial law unless the requirement is there,’” Panelo said during a press briefing.
“In the Constitution, there has to be rebellion. For now, it’s unbridled killing that is still happening there,” he added.
But Duterte can still invoke other emergency powers in the charter, such as deploying more military troops to Negros, according to Panelo.
“Right now, he’s not done that (declaring martial law). He’s only called 300 PNP (Philippine National Police) strike force ba yun or SWAT. ‘Yan pa lang ang ginawa niya (that’s the only thing he did),” he said, referring to the PNP’s Special Action Forces.
On Monday, PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde said that he has deployed 300 additional elite policemen to help stop the bloodshed in the Negros provinces.
Duterte has threatened to put the province under martial rule to “quell lawless violence” after four policemen were killed by suspected communist rebels last month.
Panelo, who is also Duterte’s top legal counsel, has said the President would use his emergency powers to crush all forms of threats aimed to destroy the government.
Last week, Duterte warned that he may do “something drastic” to maintain peace and order in the country, as he stressed that the Negros killings were unacceptable to him.
The Constitution states that the President as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces may place the entire country or any part of it under martial law “in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.”
The declaration lasts only for 60 days, but in the case of Mindanao, Congress has granted all three requests for an extension as Duterte argued the need for military rule to quell the rebellion in the region.
Negros Island, which is composed of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental provinces, is covered by Memorandum Order 32 which mandates the deployment of additional soldiers and policemen to suppress lawless violence.
Duterte, who placed Mindanao under martial law on May 23, 2017, has repeatedly said that he did not plan to declare martial law in other parts of the country.
The entire country, however, is still under a state of emergency as Duterte has not lifted Proclamation 55, which he issued on Sept. 4, 2016, to declare a state of emergency in the Philippines in response to the 2016 Davao City bombing. CATHERINE S. VALENTE