Friendly advice

It is not really certain and clear if there are people in Malacanang who can effectively advice and convince the President to exercise some restraint, judiciousness and circumspection regarding his public demeanor and behavior. As of now, after three years in office, people are already getting worried that there is something wrong with him. This is especially shown by his recent outburst against his critics particularly the call of Senator Franklin Drilon for his administration to exercise “extreme caution” in reviewing contracts with foreign private parties because they cannot just be canceled for being onerous. Drilon’s warning, which is really a friendly and useful advice, however caused Duterte to blow his top again as he threatened to declare a “Revolutionary War,” to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and to arrest his critics.

“Revolutionary War” is indeed a novel and somewhat difficult to understand phrase. It is not found in any of our statute books or legal dictionary. The closest meaning that could be given to such phrase is that it is a fight or battle or hostilities arising in the midst of a rebellion. And according to Article 134 of the Revised Penal Code, “the crime of rebellion is committed by rising publicly and taking up arms against the Government for the purpose of removing from the allegiance to said Government or its laws, the territory of the Republic of the Philippines or any part thereof, of any body of land, naval or other armed forces, or depriving the Chief Executive or the Legislature, wholly or partially, of any of their powers or prerogatives.”

It is quite clear and undisputable that no rebellion is happening in our country now. In fact even in Mindanao which is still under martial law up to now, the uprising by the Abu Sayyaf and other group of rebellious Muslims in Marawi has already been suppressed. Hence no “Revolutionary War” is taking place in any part of our country at present. Duterte has therefore no legal basis in threatening us with a declaration of such kind of war.

Some well meaning people in our country have even pointed out that what Duterte really meant is to declare a “Revolutionary Government” not a “Revolutionary War.” Such explanation is plausible. But it must also be pointed out that a “Revolutionary Government” can be declared only if a rebellion as defined by our Revised Penal Code is currently happening in our country. Apparently there is none. So there is no basis in declaring a “Revolutionary Government.” Such declaration is unconstitutional.

The only “war” we have right now is the war on drugs declared by Duterte when he assumed office which he promised to triumphantly end within three months then postponed to six months. Up to now however or three years later, the war on drugs is still ongoing and Duterte himself admitted that his administration is losing such war because the drug problem has worsened. Such admission has even given rise to conclusions by a lot of people that there is a semblance of truth to the allegations and charges against Duterte and his family as being involved in drug trade in connivance with some drug lords like Yang and Uy. In fact Yang was even his economic adviser who has reportedly resigned last December 31, 2018 but only announced by Malacanang recently after the expose came out. People are really getting more worried and confused on what is happening in our country now.

In his recent outburst, Duterte also threatened to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus so he could order the arrest of his critics. But according to our Constitution (Section 15, Article III) the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus can be suspended only in case of invasion, rebellion or when public safety requires it. Any law student knows that such situations are not present in our country now. As pointed out above, there is no revolution or rebellion happening now in any part of the Philippines. There may be some violence resulting in the killing of suspected drug addicts under “Oplan Tokhang,” but these violence and killings are caused by the government law enforcers themselves. So it is the government which should stop such violence and they can do so without suspending the writ of habeas corpus to arrest civilian critics.  All they have to do is to stop “Oplan Tokhang”and prosecute those involved in violence and killings rather than suspend the writ of habeas corpus and arrest those who they perceive to be the enemies of Duterte, not the enemies of the State.

So this brings us to our relations with another State, which is China. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin has already explained that China is our friend but not a military ally. This is the policy of almost all nations in this world. But his boss Duterte considers China not only as a friend. He supports and backs China and its people. Recently, news came out that he has ordered the release of eight Chinese who have been detained for violation of Philippine laws without undergoing the necessary legal process to determine their guilt or innocence. He made this move through the intervention of Allan Uy who is identified as a suspected drug lord together with Yang his former economic adviser. People cannot thus help but raise their eyebrows because he has not done this favor to any Filipino. Obviously he is discriminating in favor of the Chinese like the other Chinese workers who entered our country to work here without the necessary permits.

Thus it is about time for Duterte to correct his mistakes. He should not consider the foregoing comments as criticisms but as attempts to help him improve his governance of our country.

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