SOLICITOR-GENERAL Jose C. Calida on Thursday said the Constitution must be “retooled” regarding its provisions limiting the scope and presidential authority of martial law.

“We have to retool it. We have to make it work kasi (because) if some Constitutional provisions do not work under an emergency situation, then we have a problem,” Mr. Calida said addressing reporters in Malacanang on Thursday.

The state lawyer was referring to the martial law provisions under Article VII, Section 18 on the Executive Department which significantly limited the president’s authority, since the authors of the 1987 Constitution were evidently guided, at the time, by the country’s experience with martial rule under the dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos.

In contrast to Mr. Marcos’s indefinite enforcement of martial law under the 1935 Constitution, the martial law provisions under the present charter are limited by an extendable time frame of 60 days and are contingent upon congressional authority. Mr. Marcos’ martial law government, on the other hand, padlocked Congress and suspended the Constitution.

Mr. Calida said the present Constitution is a “reflex” action to the people’s experience under Mr. Marcos. “So it was not a normal situation when they drafted the Constitution,” he said, even as he added the martial law provisions should still have safeguards.

“In other words, the medicine must be sufficient to cure the disease,” Mr. Calida said. — Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral

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