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[av_heading heading=’ Lagman: Terrorism not necessarily rebellion’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Wednesday, June 14, 2017
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MANILA – Terrorism does not necessarily constitute rebellion, petitioners told the Supreme Court on Tuesday as they questioned the sufficiency of basis for the proclamation of martial law in Mindanao.
The high tribunal had started the three-day oral arguments on consolidated petitions against the military rule in the southern region declared in light of terror acts perpetrated by the Maute group.
“Acts of terrorism are not necessarily equivalent to actual rebellion and the consequent requirement of securing public safety to justify the imposition of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus,” said Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay), one of the petitioners.
“No less than Justice secretary (Vitaliano) Aguirre admitted that acts of terrorism do not automatically constitute rebellion,” Lagman added. “It is for this reason that the Human Security Act of 2007 (Republic Act 9372) was enacted to punish acts of terrorism.”
Martial law is not needed in “confronting and defeating terrorists,” the congressman said, and “there is no actual invasion or rebellion when the public safety requires such imposition or suspension.”
According to Lagman, acts of rebellion include removing the Philippines or a part of it from allegiance to the republic or preventing the president or Congress from exercising their powers and prerogatives.
“Defense and military officials have admitted that the current armed conflict in Marawi City was government-initiated and the armed confrontation was precipitated by the military operation to neutralize or capture Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon,” he said.
“Consequently the alleged ‘siege’ of Marawi City is actually an armed resistance by the Maute group to shield Hapilon from capture, not to overrun Marawi and remove its allegiance from the republic,” he added.
Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law on May 23 following the clash between government troops and the Maute group, which was prompted by a botched military operation against Hapilon, the alleged Islamic State leader in Southeast Asia.
The petition filed by Lagman and five other congressmen were consolidated with two others filed on Friday last week./PN
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