Maintains, however, that martial law not needed
(Eagle News)—The Commission on Human Rights on Wednesday, Feb. 20, said it respects the Supreme Court decision allowing the third extension of martial law in Mindanao.
In a statement, CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia, however, maintained the declaration of martial law “should be reserved as an extraordinary measure for lawless violence, invasion or rebellion, as determined in the Constitution, and should never be the norm.”
“We are confident that our security forces, police and military combined, can effectively address terrorism and other lawless elements in Mindanao without the need for martial law,” she said.
In any case, De Guia said while martial law was in effect, the government should “ensure that alleged human rights violations are addressed, such as claims of torture, profiling, and other infringement of rights caused by continuing internal displacement of communities arising even from its first instance of declaration.”
“In the end, securing our country should not come at the expense of fundamental rights and liberties,” she said.
Voting 9-4, the SC junked the consolidated petitions challenging the third extension of martial law in Mindanao, which Congress had approved at the request of President Rodrigo Duterte.
In asking for the extension, the executive had argued there was a need to sustain the economic gains derived from previous impositions of martial law, and a need to run after terrorists including the Abu Sayyaf and the New People’s Army.
Martial law was first declared in Mindanao in 2017, after local terrorists overran Marawi in a supposed bid to establish an Islamic State caliphate in Southeast Asia.
