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BY TIFFANY ANNE TAN
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BACOLOD City – A Catholic church leader has noticed a similarity between President Rodrigo Duterte and the deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
Father Felix Pasquin, social communications head of the Diocese of Bacolod, advised the public to be wary of the possibility of suspension of the writ of habeas corpus amid the administration’s war on illegal drugs.
Duterte considers suspending the writ to curb criminality, according to Chief Presidential Counsel Salvador Panelo.
“We have to be vigilant,” said Pasquin, rector of the San Sebastian Cathedral.
If we were to look back at martial law under Marcos, “it was preceded by the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus,” he said.
And Duterte’s refrain of saving the country from the “evils of drugs and terrorism” bears an “uncanny similarity [with] Marcos,” said Pasquin.
“Saving the republic,” the priest said in a text message. “Look where such a refrain brought our nation.”
“Eternal vigilance is indeed the price of freedom,” Pasquin said.
Suspension of the writ of habeas corpus permits warrantless arrests.
Earlier Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said he was in favor of suspending the writ to address drugs and lawlessness, but only in some areas of the country — and certainly not in Negros Occidental.
“Maayo man ina siguro, but … I don’t think there is a need for that here because our province is peaceful,” said the governor.
Earlier this month Duterte said he may be forced to suspend the writ if lawlessness in Mindanao and the drug problem continue./PN
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