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Panelo: There's a 'wide difference' between Marcos and Duterte

January 16, 2017 | 5:18pm

Panelo: There's a 'wide difference' between Marcos and Duterte

President Rodrigo Duterte answers queries from the media at a restaurant in Davao City on Aug. 24, 2016.

PPD / Karl Norman Alonzo, File

MANILA, Philippines — Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Monday allayed fears sparked by President Rodrigo Duterte’s recent statement on martial law, saying it is not within the chief executive’s character to abuse his powers.

Panelo said Duterte is different from former President Ferdinand Marcos, who placed the Philippines under Martial Law in 1972 supposedly to curb communist insurgency and other threats.

“There are safeguards under the present Constitution. But we must remember that there is a wide difference between Marcos and Mr. Duterte,” Panelo told dwFM in an interview.

“Let us remember that it is very out of the character of President Duterte to be abusive. In fact, that characterizes his service as mayor and as president. He hates abuses,” he added.

Panelo stressed that the president would only declare martial law under certain conditions.

“I think the message of the president is very clear. It is as he said, ‘if.’ It is when ‘if’ the situation. He is telling us the reality on the ground. If it becomes virulent and if it is really needed, then it is his duty — constitutional duty to declare martial law,” the chief presidential legal counsel said.

“And you must remember that the very reason precisely by the framers of the Constitution in putting that emergency power is to preserve our country from chaos. He was correct when he said ‘when necessary,’” he added.

Panelo also disputed notions that Duterte may declare martial law to remain in power.

“He already said, you want to oust me, go ahead, to kill me, go ahead. But for as long as I am the president I will do what is dictated by the Constitution,” he said.

“He said if I declare martial law, he would not do it to extend his term, he will do it for all of us. He will do it to preserve our country.”

Duterte had claimed that Martial Law did nothing to improve the lives of Filipinos but has mentioned the possibility of declaring it in his recent speeches.

Last Saturday, Duterte said he would declare martial law if the drug problem has become “very virulent,” drawing fears that the president may be setting the predicate to implement the policy. Duterte also criticized the constitutional provision subjecting a martial law declaration to the approval of Congress and the Supreme Court, saying it was borne out of a “hangover” of the experiences during the Marcos regime.

Malacañang has maintained that Duterte is against martial law and scored what it described as “inaccurate reporting” of his statement.

“The president has categorically said no to martial law. He even made a pronouncement saying that martial law did not improve the lives of the Filipinos,” Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement last Sunday.

“We, therefore, decry the latest misreporting that the president will declare martial law simply ‘if he wants to’ or that ‘no one can stop the president from declaring martial law.’

Such headlines sow panic and confusion to many. We consider this kind of reportage as the height of journalistic irresponsibility,” he added.