Under the 1987 Constitution, he said, suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus and declare martial law was to be granted not by legislative authorization but only “in case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it.”

Lagman added that the suspension of the writ should “apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent in or directly connected with invasion,” and not to drug related cases.

“Gordon’s proposal falls into the perceived calibrated scheme of the President increasingly exercising emergency powers, from a declaration of a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence to possibly culminating in a declaration of martial law,” he said.

Read more: inquirer.net