BACOLOD City – The series of killings allegedly mounted by communist rebels has sparked fear of a possible imposition of martial law in Negros Island.
In a span of one week, 13 people were killed in separate shootings – involving lawyers, local officials and educators.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has deployed over 300 elite Special Action Force (SAF) troops in a bid to restore peace and order in the violence-stricken provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental.
“So far, wala namang sinasabi ang Presidente patungkol doon (martial law),” PNP chief General Oscar Albayalde said at a press conference.
He also said the violence was “confined in an area” and had not spread to the entire island.
“Ang instruction niya is to finish the problem of insurgency,” Albayalde added.
Meanwhile, detained Sen. Leila de Lima vowed to block any move to put the entire Negros Island under martial law.
De Lima said placing the area under martial rule would lead to the escalation of violence and oppression.
She urged Duterte to rescind Memorandum Order (MO) No. 32 deploy additional troops to Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and the Bicol Region to help suppress lawless violence.
“Since the issuance of Duterte’s directive, the deployment of more policemen and soldiers has resulted in more killings,” de Lima said.
The senator pointed out that the killings have even increased and declaring martial law would only aggravate the worsening human rights situation.
“Sa halip na sugpuin ang karahasan, lalo pang tumaas ang bilang ng patayan, lalo na sa hanay ng mga nagtatangol sa karapatang pantao at mga pilipinong walang kalaban-laban,” de Lima said.
“It’s very obvious that Duterte’s MO 32 was not to quell insurgency but to silence his critics and dissenters of his flawed policies. I reiterate my call on our government to withdraw this order and put a stop to these senseless killings,” added de Lima./PN
Martial Law actually never left the Philippines. Even when the great thief Marcos skedaddled from Malacanang the military he left behind was still under a martial law mindset which never disaoppeared. From Cory Aquino to Tatay Dutae all presidents were actually practicing martial law wiothout declaring one !!!