By Ian Nicolas P. Cigaral
Reporter

DEFENSE SECRETARY Delfin N. Lorenzana on Monday said he is “confident” the Supreme Court (SC) will dismiss all petitions questioning the validity of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s May 23 proclamation of martial law in Mindanao.

In a press briefing on Monday, July 3, Mr. Lorenzana expressed optimism the SC will favor Mr. Duterte’s imposition of martial law, saying security officials were able to “sufficiently” brief the Justices on the factual basis of the declaration.

“I believe we have sufficiently or competently answered all the questions on the basis of martial law,” Mr. Lorenzana said.

“Tomorrow is the day it will promulgate the ruling and I look forward to seeing that they will say it is legal for the President to declare martial law in the first place,” he added.

The Constitution mandates the Justices to release their decision within 30 days since the first filing of petitions challenging the declaration, as confirmed by SC Spokesperson Theodore O. Te.

“The Constitution gives a period of 30 days from first filing,” Mr. Te said in a mobile phone message.

The first petition was filed by legislators led by Albay Representative Edcel C. Lagman on June 5. The SC will have a full-court session today, July 4.

The 1987 Constitution has set safeguards on martial law by limiting its enforcement to 60 days and allowing the High Court and Congress to review the proclamation.

This is to prevent a repeat of the abuses under dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, who detained his critics during his martial rule and used this to stay in power for another 14 years. Mr. Marcos was overthrown in 1986 by a People Power revolution led, among others, by the PDP-Laban, Mr. Duterte’s own party.

Mr. Duterte has warned he would ignore a decision by the SC against his proclamation, and threatened to jail critics of martial law.

According to Mr. Lorenzana, security officials will wait for a “couple of weeks more” to determine whether martial law must be lifted. “We don’t have yet the necessary information to recommend the continuation or not of martial law,” he said.

The 60-day period of Mr. Duterte’s Proclamation 216 will have ended on July 23, the eve of his second State of the Nation Address.

Clashes between government forces and the pro-Islamic State (IS) Maute militants broke out in Marawi on May 23 — triggering one of the biggest internal security crises in the Philippines in years.

Mr. Duterte declared martial law and enforced warrantless arrests over Mindanao on the first day of the battle to foil what he said was Maute’s plan to establish a caliphate for IS in Marawi.

Yet the battle, despite being under a regime of martial law, has dragged on for six weeks. Proclamation 216 is only effective for two more weeks.

Amid the continued fighting, pursuing government forces have so far made 66 martial law related arrests, Mr. Lorenzana said. Meanwhile, as of July 2, 336 terrorists have been killed by troops while government casualties have risen to 84 and civilian deaths to 39.

Mr. Lorenzana also confirmed that Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, who joined the Maute bandits in the Marawi siege, is still hiding in a mosque inside the city based on “latest information.”

“There were three fighters from Marawi that arrived in Basilan more than a week ago but Isnilon is not one of them. We believe he’s still in Marawi,” he said, in contrast to reports last week suggested that Hapilon had escaped. — with Kristine Joy V. Patag

Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin Lorenzana gestures during a press conference at the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Manila on March 9, 2017. — AFP

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