‘War isn’t over,’ says SolGen on 3rd extension of martial law in Mindanao

Credit to Author: JOMAR CANLAS, TMT| Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2019 19:39:08 +0000

THE war isn’t over in Mindanao as the “specter of terrorism and rebellion continue to cast dark shadows on the country and we must steel ourselves for a long struggle ahead,” Solicitor General Jose Calida said on Tuesday.

“We cannot for a moment think that the war has already been won. The price of victory is vigilance. We cannot let out guard down even for a moment,” Calida said in defending the government’s decision to extend martial law in the region before the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on a petition against it.

Calida said that the extension of martial rule in Mindanao was not a mere “whim or caprice” but founded on the “harsh reality that rebels and terrorists continued to operate openly, planning, plotting, and attacking military and civilians alike in Mindanao.”

“Like pests, to root them out and stop the violence they are inflicting would take the maximum effort and resources of the State,” he said.

Calida said President Rodrigo Duterte’s martial law declaration in Mindanao under Proclamation 216 was concurred by Congress, as provided under the 1987 Constitution, and therefore not subject to judicial review.

It is also within the powers of Congress to extend the proclamation and suspend the writ of habeas corpus, Calida said.

Habeas corpus is a legal remedy for illegal arrest or arbitrary detention. When the court grants the writ, it directs a person detaining another to produce and present the detained individual at a designated time and place.

Duterte first declared martial law in Mindanao in May 2017 when the IS-inspired Maute group laid siege to Marawi City in a bid to establish an independent state.

In October of the same year, government troops defeated the terrorists but Duterte asked Congress to allow an extension of martial law until yearend because of continued terror threats.

Duterte sought a second and third extension — until December 2018 and 2019 — for the same reason, which Congress granted.

Calida said that martial law did not end with the cessation of the Marawi seige.

Citing military figures, Calida said the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) has a total of 424 members with 473 firearms. They are scattered all over Basilan, Sulu Tawi-Tawi and Zamboanga. The Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) has 264 members with 254 firearms.

The Daulah Islamiyah is composed of 59 members from the Maute group, with 61 firearms; 6 members of the MaguidGgroup with 10 firearms; and 85 members of the Turaifie Group, with 20 firearms. The total barangay affected are 204, Calida said.

In February 2018, the high court ruled as constitutional Duterte’s extension of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao until December 31 of the same year.

Lawmakers at the House of Representatives, led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, filed a petition asking the high tribunal to declare the third extension of martial rule, as well as the suspension of the the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao, as unconstitutional.

Calida said that the factual bases to extend the duration of martial law in Mindanao for another year or until December 2019 were still present.

He said that rebellion was a condition for declaring martial law under the Constitution and this was clear and present under the ongoing circumstances.

He said that the country has the opportune time to end rebellion towards lasting peace in Mindanao.

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