Seven (7) Members of the House of Representatives led by opposition Rep. Edcel C. Lagman of Albay asked the Supreme Court today to void as unconstitutional the third extension of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpusin the whole of Mindanao.

In a 46-page petition, filed at 3:28 PM and docketed as G.R. No. 243522, Lagman was joined by Reps. Tomasito Villarin, Teddy Baguilat, Jr., Edgar Erice, and Gary Alejano, all members of the Magnificent 7 opposition group, and Reps. Christopher Belmonte and Arlene “Kaka” Bag-ao of the Liberal Party.

The petitioners asserted that the Resolution of Both Houses No. 16 dated 12 December 2018 mocks the 1987 Constitution because:

1. Rebellion does not exist and persist in Mindanao;

2. Public safety is not imperiled;

3. Another year of extension unduly prolongs the martial law regime; and

4. Proclamation No. 216 which originally imposed martial law and suspended the writ in Mindanao has become functus officio and cannot anymore be extended.

Lagman explained that the Supreme Court in Lagman vs. Medialdea ruled that there must be an actual rebellion, which is an armed uprising against the government for the purpose of removing the country or a portion thereof from the allegiance to the Republic, to justify the imposition or extension of martial law, together with the concurring ground that public safety requires such imposition or extension.

President Duterte’s letter dated 06 December 2018 to the Congress initiating a third extension failed to demonstrate the sufficient factual basis for his request, and his allegations of lawless violence and terrorism were not connected to rebellion, Lagman added.

Lagman also said that the President failed to comply with his undertaking in his letter that he would submit a detailed report in “a few days” to Congress since the statements in his letter on the continuing existence of rebellion were merely “generalized”.

Although the President admitted in his said letter that the alleged rebellion has been significantly placed “under control”.

The Albay solon also underscored that Proclamation No. 216 cannot anymore be extended because its purpose of crushing the Marawi siege and annihilating the Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorist leadership had been accomplished as the President announced last 17 October 2017 that Marawi has been liberated from the terrorists and their influence.

It must be recalled that Isnilon Hapilon, Abu Sayyaf principal leader, and the Maute brothers, Abdullah and Omarkhayam, were killed in Marawi City.

Lagman also pointed out that a third extension of another year or 365 days would make the total extensions consist of 891 days, excluding the original 60 days. The accumulated 891 days is an enormous increase of 1,485% over the original period of 60 days, which defied the constitutional intent of limiting the duration of martial law and any extension thereof.

A series of long extensions makes the duration of martial law in virtual perpetuity, Lagman likewise added.

Moreover, the petitioners also said that public clamor for extension is not a constitutional ground and it is a grievous fallacy that martial law must be extended as a development instrument to sustain progress.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN