MANILA, Philippines - The current debate on the declaration of martial law in Maguindanao is based on the various interpretations of Sec. 18 of Art. VII of the Philippine Constitution which states: “The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such Armed Forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion.”
The issue being raised, “Is there a rebellion in the area to warrant the calling of martial law?”
The critics say that to call martial law there must be an actual shooting, lives must be lost, and large scale violent destructions must be experienced in the area.
I think our leaders should focus the discussion on the constitutional provision of “preventing lawless violence” to understand the rationale of the imposition of martial law in Maguindanao. The President as Commander-in-Chief is responsible in protecting the territory and integrity of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief is also responsible for the lives and health of the members of the officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Republic who are duty bound to follow the President’s orders. When the soldiers took their oath as members of the Armed Forces, they automatically placed their lives on the line to be sacrificed, if need be as defender of the people.
If by imposing martial law the President could preempt the unnecessary loss of lives and damages to property, then Martial Law is well justified. The vast amount of arms and ammo confiscated during the period of martial law in Maguindanao is a virtual projection of the amount of damages to properties and lost of lives if martial law was not declared. A lot of those who will die and be wounded if violence was not preempted by the martial law declaration are going to be the young members of the Armed Forces and the police who will be in the frontlines, plus a lot of civilians will also be hurt by “to whom it may concern” bullets.
A Constitutional preemptive legal strike is often necessary to convince the hardheaded political warlords that the rule of violence will not work in a democratic state. Once the government legally removes their violent weapons of destruction, then the violent politicians will have to follow the rule of “a government of laws rather than of men” like the vast majority of the normal law abiding Filipino citizens.
To test the martial law rationale, lift the martial law in Maguindanao. All the critics who oppose the martial law in Maguindanao, that intend to preempt violent lost of lives in the area, should voluntarily join the Armed Forces or should be called to active duty in the Armed Forces and assigned to Maguindanao so they will now take the responsibility of protecting the Republic in front line duties confronting the political warlords who seek to dismember the Republic and impose feudalistic rule on the common Filipino. — JCI Sen. DING WENCESLAO, Chairman, Advocacy Committee, Philippine Jaycee Senate