Critics Denounce Martial Law in Maguindanao as a Ruse and a Cover-Up

In fact, most legal opinion on martial law in Maguindanao have said it is “baseless,” “inappropriate,” “unconstitutional,” an “infirmity,” even “illegal.”

Under the 1987 Constitution, martial law can only be declared in cases of invasion or rebellion and only when public safety demands it. Meanwhile, under the Revised Penal Code, there should at least be a public uprising to justify calling it a rebellion, “which is not the case” in Maguindanao, said Laura. “What happened in Maguindanao is a clear case of multiple murder, not a rebellion,” he said.

According to Marvic Leonen, dean and professor of law at the University of the Philippines, “martial law cannot be declared because the state has failed to prevent massive human rights violations by leaders that the national government itself has nurtured. Martial law cannot be proclaimed to cover up the lack of professional competence in the gathering, preservation, evaluation of evidence and in the arrest and detention of the perpetrators. Martial law is also not the proper legal response to the issuance of a writ of amparo in favor of the Ampatuan family.”

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court, which is now largely composed of Arroyo appointees, said it “did not feel that there is a need to issue a TRO at this time,” in reaction to numerous pending petitions for temporary restraining order related to the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao.

Arroyo’s Self-Serving Attack on People

Aside from being legally infirm as well as worrisome in terms of additional human rights violations it would create, the martial law in Maguindanao is also widely being distrusted as a cover-up not only for the impunity committed by the Ampatuans but also for their complicity with Arroyo in rigging the 2004 elections and raiding the AFP’s armory for their personal gain.

Also, most peoples’ organizations recoil from martial law as Arroyo’s likely vehicle for clinging to power beyond 2010, the year her term ends.

As a cover-up, critics say the rebellion case against the Ampatuans could diminish their 57 counts of murder (so far) to just one case under a rebellion charge which, if found guilty, could later be subject to an amnesty.

“Rebellion runs the risk of being granted amnesty, which can be pardoned by the president following final conviction,” said Joaquin Bernas, a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission who has been teaching criminal law since 1962.

Calling the Ampatuans “rebels instead of criminals is another injustice,” said Marie Hilao-Enriquez, chairperson of Karapatan. “There is nobility in rebellion,” she said — a nobility that is patently absent in the fictitious Ampatuan rebellion in Maguindanao. Enriquez condemned the government’s propensity to slap criminal cases on true rebels and call actual heinous criminals as “rebels.”

As a democratic threat, many peoples’ organizations are saying that the martial law in Maguindanao, if unchallenged, could be a prelude to martial law in other parts of the country and to a failure of the 2010 elections. According to Bayan Muna’s Neri Colmenares, “President Arroyo, through the Comelec, can surely use these grounds to postpone the 2010 election similar to what President Marcos did in 1972.”

Section 5 of the Omnibus Election Code provides that elections shall be postponed if the “free, orderly and honest election” should be impossible to hold because of “violence, terrorism, or other analogous causes.”

If not postponement, Arroyo could make use of martial law to “make it easier for her regime to do what it can in Maguindanao without legal encumbrances, including the ease of ensuring at the very least that the province and region’s total delivery of ‘command’ votes for Arroyo’s candidates will continue,” the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) said in a statement.

The CPP noted that the Ampatuan massacre and the results of investigations being done by concerned sectors are further isolating the Arroyo regime and pulling down further the electoral chances of its Lakas-Kampi-CMD national slate. As such, “Malacañang’s only choice now is to save its own skin and make the most out of the situation to plot more dirty, insidious and violent schemes to ensure the perpetuation of its hold on power.”

While martial law is being challenged before the Supreme Court and in Congress, Bayan (New Patriotic Alliance) said the public cannot be assured it can win the fight in these institutions. “It will be a difficult fight in the Supreme Court and Congress. The numbers may not favor us,” said Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary-general. As such, Reyes added, “we must fight martial law and the abuse of power the only effective way we know how. The same way we fought martial law and the Marcos dictatorship, we have to go to the streets in protest.” (Bulatlat.com)