What they want

With martial law lifted in Maguindanao, what residents want, according to a member of the Mangudadatu clan, are security and the arrest of those behind the massacre.

Mayor Zajid Mangudadatu of Pandag town, brother of Buluan Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, should go one step further than arrest: the perpetrators, particularly the brains, must be punished for the brutal killing of 57 people.

Beyond punishing the murderers (they are not rebels) and giving the victims justice, the nation should prevent a repeat of the massacre, and prevent any abuse of the executive power to impose martial law.

The unconstitutional exercise of that power could lead to the acquittal of several of those accused of responsibility for the massacre, led by former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., staunch ally of President Arroyo.

A witness has reportedly pointed to Andal Senior, not Datu Unsay town Mayor Andal “Unsay” Junior, as the brains behind the massacre. This is plausible, considering that Andal Senior is the clan patriarch. An operation on the scale of the massacre, with mass graves allegedly prepared in advance using backhoes of his provincial government, could not have been planned and executed without a green light from the boss of bosses.

But because Andal Senior has been charged with participation in a non-existent rebellion instead of the massacre, he is likely to be cleared. Even the multiple murder case against his son Unsay has been weakened by the declaration of a state of rebellion in Maguindanao.

What will all those people rejoicing over martial law in Maguindanao do once Andal Senior and all his co-accused “rebels” are set free and regain their capability to use force in the autonomous region? This clan has not been in power for nothing; it’s not going down without a fight.

Indicting all the Ampatuans and their henchmen for multiple cases of murder and illegal gun possession could have kept them locked up without bail, and behind bars for life after conviction.

Accusing them instead of rebellion allows them to seek bail and raises their chances of acquittal, which could be the real objective of Malacañang.

An Ampatuan enemy, Chairman Nur Misuari of the secessionist Moro National Liberation Front, has bona fide credentials to be branded a rebel, and yet he was cleared of rebellion for leading a rampage from Zamboanga to Sulu in 2001, leaving more than 100 people dead.

Martial law does not suspend the Constitution; the military administrator of Maguindanao was not authorized to order military searches and seizures of Ampatuan properties. Court orders are needed for such operations, even during martial law; the country isn’t going back to the days of Ferdinand Marcos’ notorious martial law-era ASSO, or Arrest, Search and Seizure Orders. Those raids and seizures in Maguindanao without court orders would be deemed illegal.

Justice for the massacre victims does not stop at the arrest and indictment of the suspects; it must be pursued all the way to their conviction and punishment.

Martial law and the rebellion cases will thwart justice for the victims.

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When residents in conflict areas say they want martial law, what they really want is the rule of law. They want an end to lawlessness; they want peace and order to prevail in their communities.

This is something that the government has failed to provide in many parts of the country. In many areas, including the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao before the massacre, Malacañang has been a party to the criminal activities of its political allies. In exchange for keeping political enemies or security threats in check, warlord clans have been allowed to engage in lucrative jueteng operations, drug trafficking and smuggling, and even to murder political rivals. Clans such as the Ampatuans have been allowed to build up massive arsenals for their private armies, often using public funds.

The country’s weak criminal justice system has made Filipinos support extrajudicial short cuts to law enforcement, such as the summary execution of suspected criminals.

This sentiment sent to the Senate former Philippine National Police chief Panfilo Lacson, who is proud of swiftly “neutralizing” criminals, as well as other “Dirty Harry” types to various government posts.

This sentiment also fueled support for martial law in Maguindanao in the wake of the massacre, though there are unquestionably constitutional measures, also employing massive military might, that could have been used instead without undermining justice for the massacre victims.

As commander-in-chief, President Arroyo should have been fully aware of her power to call out the Armed Forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence.

But she seems to have had her eye on doing a Ferdinand Marcos nearly from Day One of assuming power, and could only focus on the martial law provision of the Constitution, which is just a few words down from the provision on calling out the military.

Andal Junior was arrested before martial law was declared. Andal Senior was not fomenting rebellion but was appealing to his ally the President and trying to confine himself indefinitely in a hospital outside his province before his arrest during martial law. His private army was not massing around the hospital, which was in Davao.

But Malacañang wanted martial law for a “looming” rebellion.

Unless the Supreme Court officially declares Proclamation 1959 unconstitutional, nothing will stop this administration from seeing a rebellion “looming” behind every bush, declaring martial law anywhere, any time, suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and using this weapon for partisan purposes.

This is what the martial law proclamation unleashed from Pandora’s box.

We don’t even know what the military seized from the Ampatuan homes. Were election paraphernalia related to the 2004 and 2007 races found?

It would be interesting to hear what Andal Senior has to say about those elections – if the military will let go of him. It seems a key objective of martial law, circa 2009, is to silence the President’s erstwhile ally.

In the meantime, some people tired of violence and lawlessness are asking for the quick fix of martial law in their areas, unmindful of its consequences, especially in the conduct of the 2010 elections.

This administration will only be too happy to oblige. This is how Marcos oppressed the nation for so long. Even when rape isn’t inevitable, we are already eager to sit back and enjoy it. And we think being a comedian gives AbCerge Remonde credibility.

We truly deserve the government we get.