(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte said he “respect(ed)” the dissenting opinions of some Supreme Court justices with respect to the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
He also noted, however, that “it (was) a very shortsighted thing,” considering the fact that Marawi, where local terrorists inspired by the Islamic State launched offensives on May 23 in a bid to carve out a province for the international terrorist group, was located in Central Mindanao.
“You have two Lanaos. There are Muslims there, Moro. If you go up, andyan na Maguindanao.. And you go to the left, you have to contend with the Moro of Zamboanga, the Tausugs and lahat na…When you declare martial law, you have to use your ‘coconut,’ the grey matter between your ears. (It) says it’s very easy to escape because there is no division in terms of land. We can have a spillover,” he told reporters on Tuesday night.
According to the President, some “forgot to remember that martial law was declared a long time ago,” when there was an explosion in Davao City’s airport in 2003, during the Zamboanga siege in September 2013, and only recently, in April.
“They failed to do their homework..They just forgot maybe to ask the police to narrate to them the so many (times),” he said.
Even then, he said it was possible that the word “critical” used by government security forces to describe the situation in Marawi prior to the declaration of martial law, meant something else for some of the justices.
“It might not be critical (for them) but when you (see improvised explosive devices) sa city high school sa Marawi, how would you describe it? When the national high school ng mga bata, lagyan mo ng IED, it’s all over Mindanao. In faraway Sulu, look. They have been decapitating people, kidnapping children, kidnapping an 8-year-old then killing him,” he said.
“Ano tawag mo dito? Unless you want to separate Luzon and even the Visayas (from Mindanao),” he added.
Supreme Court Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco Jr., Teresita De Castro, Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano Del Castillo, Jose Mendoza, Bienvenido Reyes, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, Francis Jardaleza, Samuel Martirez, and Noel Tijam voted to reject the petitions of oppositors of martial law, thereby upholding the same across Mindanao.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, and Associate Justice Alfredo Caguioa voted to enforce martial law only in some areas.
Associate Justice Marvic Leonen was the only justice who voted to grant the petitions of the oppositors to reject martial law in its entirety.