REPRESENTATIVE Edcel C. Lagman of the 1st District of Albay criticized the quick approval by Congress of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao for another year, lamenting that lawmakers were given a limited time to decide. “Martial law was also extended in a joint session in Congress, where the freedom of expression of senators and representatives was restricted to three minutes to interpellation and one minute to explain their respective votes,” said Mr. Lagman in a press conference on Thursday, Dec. 13. The two chambers of Congress, by a majority vote of its members in a joint session on Wednesday, approved the extension for the entire 2019. “While martial law was extended in Mindanao for another year or 8,760 hours, the Congressional grant of the President’s initiative for another extension of martial law was consummated in barely four hours, which is only 0.1% of the total extended period,” added Mr. Lagman as he warned against the human rights implications of such a decision. “The Congress, as a deliberating assembly, must allow the free reign of interpellation and debate on issues like the 3rd extension of martial law in Mindanao, which may involve anew the military to violate civil and human rights,” he said. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR