Clarity has finally come to the issue of Duterte's yearlong extension of martial law in Mindanao.
Te said that the Court held that:"The manner of Congress' deliberation with respect to the President's request for extension of martial law in Mindanao for one year is not subject to judicial review."
The SC also said that the two Houses of the Congress has the "full discretionary authority" to promulgate its own rules, and the said power is exempt from judicial review and interference, "except on a clear showing of such arbitrary and improvident use of the power such as would constitute a denial of due process."
The high court also noted that there is no provision under the Constitution that prescribes how many times the proclamation of martial law may be extended or how long the extended period may be.
The Court also held that the extension had sufficient factual basis, as "the rebellion that spawned the Marawi incident persists."
This ruling of the Supreme Court follows the reasoning of SolGen Calida who said that the Court has no say in the matter as regards extensions. But by declaring there is no provision as to the number of times martial law may be extended or the length of any extensions it also justifies the fears of those who opposed the extension.
One might think the key word here is "may" and that the Congress will certainly not do such a thing. Indefinite martial law via extensions? It's absurd. Especially if martial law were to be extended over the entire country which is a real possibility since the NPA has soldiers in every region of the country. While this scenario is one which Calida has denied will happen Duterte has said such an option is not off the table.
The Supreme Court also ruled that rebellion still exists in Mindanao. However, that rebellion has existed now for 500 years more or less. It is not going away anytime soon. Nor will operations against the Islamic terrorists be ending anytime soon.
In the Pentagon's Lead Inspector General report, Operation Pacific Eagle was "conditions-based and will terminate when the AFP no longer requires U.S. military assistance to address its internal terrorist threat."
The AFP remains poorly equipped and poorly trained. They were not ready for urban warfare in Marawi and only now are they receiving any training for urban warfare. Abu Sayyaf, BIFF, Maute remnants and various other Islamic terror groups as well as the NPA remain well armed and well prepared for the fight ahead. The AFP will require U.S. military assistance for a long time to come. Unless Duterte inks a deal with India and gets the Indian army to assist in Mindanao.
In the meantime it's business as usual for the AFP in Mindanao.
The AFP was carrying out these kinds of operations before martial law and they will be doing so even after martial law is lifted. It's a good thing these terrorists are dead but if they had surrendered like members of the NPA have been doing they might have received a different treatment.
“(They will) go on an educational tour in Manila and have a dinner with President Rodrigo Duterte at Malacanang on February 7, 2018 at 5 o'clock in the afternoon,” Balagtey said in an advisory.
“The surrenderers will have an educational tour at Intramuros, Malacañang, and other historic places to awaken their nationalism prior to their scheduled dinner with the President,” Balagtey explained.
They will also be brought to a mushroom production farm in Bulacan “to help them get ideas on how to improve their lives and be self-sustaining.”
Rather than death or jail time these rebels get fêted by the President.
What will be the fruit of the Supreme Court's ruling? As with anything we all must wait and see. War and rumours of war are brewing all around the nation and the region. From China's militarisation of the SCS which Japan is even concerned about, to the North Korea crisis, to the Muslims in Mindanao anything could happen at anytime. So why not have indefinite martial law in Mindanao until all the Muslim terrorists are dead? Why not have indefinite martial law nationwide until all the communists are dead? Are you ready for war? Duterte sure is.
Duterte, in a speech in Davao City Friday, said he is offering to train the indigenous groups for three months to kill the rebels.
"If they are well trained enough, give me about three months, I will train them as CAFGU (Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Unit) and give them firearms and go out and hunt for those who killed their comrades," Duterte said.
What is this plan but an admission that the AFP is not strong enough to win on their own? With an offer of 20k pesos per dead NPA rebel the President is transforming the Citizen Army into bounty hunters and vigilantes. That is not the purpose of the CAFGU.
SECTION 1. The Armed Forces of the Philippines shall include the Citizen Armed Force which is hereby constituted, to be composed of all reservists, and officers and enlisted men on inactive status. All able-bodied citizens shall become reservists with appropriate ranks. All reservists in a particular locality shall be organized into reserve geographical units subject to call and mobilization as the need arises, individually or as a unit. Reservists called to active duty shall serve with the regular troops as part of the standing force. The Secretary of National Defense shall prescribe and implement a continuing program of recruitment and training for the Citizen Armed Force to enable it to respond to all types of threats to national security.
SEC. 3. The Citizen Armed Force Geographical Units shall consists of cadre of officers and men in the active force and qualified reservists residing in the locality. The cadre may, however, be assigned to another unit in the active force while the CAFGUs to which they are assigned are on inactive status.
SEC. 4. Whenever dictated by military necessity, and upon the recommendation of the Secretary of National Defense and approved by the President, the Citizens Armed Force may be called or mobilized to complement the operations of the regular force of the Armed Forces of the Philippines or to support the regular force formations or units. For this purpose, Active Auxiliary Units which shall be part of the Citizen Armed Force Geographical Units, may be utilized, to be constituted out of volunteers to be screened in consultation with the local executives and civic/business leaders. These Active Auxiliary Units shall mean a degree of activation of military reservists short of full active duty status. They shall not be vested with law-enforcement or police functions.
From reading executive order 264 which provides for the formation of a Citizen Army it would seem that the composition of said army is limited to reservists and other men already members of the AFP but on an inactive status. There does not seem to be any provision for training indigenous people and even if there were such a provision three months is hardly enough time to train properly. Such a military would need constant training to stay prepared. The purpose of this Citizen Army is to provide support to regular AFP operations not to hunt down rebels on their own.
Interestingly enough 19 years later in 2006 Executive Order 546 was signed into law. This EO provides for auxiliary PNP units to assist the AFP in fighting the insurgency.
WHEREAS, the National Democratic Front, the Communist Party of the Philippines and its military arm, the New People’s Army, have been waging an armed struggle against the Government and the Filipino people for more than thirty years;
WHEREAS, the ongoing insurgency has a negative impact on the economy and resolving the insurgency will foster a climate conducive to economic growth and national development;
WHEREAS, to effectively address this threat, there is a need for a “whole of government approach” to ensure sustained, consistent, integrated and coordinated international security measures against the Communist Terrorist Movement and other organized elements/groups engaged in armed offensives against the Government;
SECTION 1. The PNP shall support the AFP in combat operations involving the suppression of insurgency and other serious threats to national security.
SECTION 2. In the exercise of its responsibility, subject to the concurrence of the appropriate Local Chief Executive through the Local Peace and Order Council, the PNP is hereby authorized to deputize the barangay tanods as force multipliers in the implementation of the peace and order plan in the area.
http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/2006/07/14/executive-order-no-546-s-2006/
Twelve years ago, and in official documents, we see the communists are labelled "the Communist Terrorist Movement" and that there is an ongoing insurgency. What is insurgency but rebellion? Official government documents declare that a rebellion has been ongoing for thirty years! Why no martial law in 2006? If martial law had been declared then would it have been found to be a valid declaration? Would Mindanao and the nation still be under martial law twelve years later via extensions?
Two years after this decree the PNP distributed 12,000 shotguns across the nation with the first 1,000 going to Mindanao.
The PNP earlier distributed 1,000 shotguns to auxiliaries in Mindanao to protect villages, especially those attacked in recent weeks by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
"May safeguard ito, PNP ang pipili nito (There are safeguards, the PNP will choose the auxiliaries)," Bartolome said, but did not give further details about the safeguards.
In 2008 MILF were the bad guys in 2018 they are the good guys waiting ever so patiently for the government to pass the BBL so the violence can finally stop. There are several problems with AFP and PNP auxiliary units the biggest problem being those safeguards the PNP did not divulge not actually being safe. How else does one explain this:
It's going to be an interesting year!
This guy is the main joke around the world and Filipinos are too stupid to see it.
ReplyDelete1.) For simply showing facts & exposes fallacies of the administration:
Deletehttp://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/13/18/trillanes-fil-am-businesswoman-declared-persona-non-grata-in-davao-city
2.) Kazakhstan welcomes Sacha Baron Cohen, despite his portrayal of Kazakhs. But in the Philippines, they lose their minds (EXCEPT Mocha Uson).
http://kickerdaily.com/posts/2017/09/for-disrespecting-natl-anthem-pinoy-transsexual-faces-passport-cancellation-persona-non-grata-status/