Contact Details

Rm. N-411, House of Representatives, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines
+63 2 931 5497, +63 2 931 5001 local 7370

Press Statements

Why are some Senators and Representatives talking about extending martial law in Mindanao when the President has not even officially initiated such extension?

Under the Constitution, while an extension needs the concurrence of the absolute majority of the members of the Congress voting in joint session, any such extension shall be upon the initiative of the President.

It stands to reason that any extension should not exceed the original maximum period of sixty (60) days as a provided in the Constitution.

The guiding constitutional safeguard is the limited duration of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

 

EDCEL C. LAGMAN

Press Statements

After perusing the ponencia or the majority decision of the Supreme Court upholding the declaration of martial law in the whole of Mindanao, the opposition congressmen-petitioners have resolved to contest the ruling in a motion for reconsideration.

Serious errors in the majority decision will be exposed and expounded in the motion for reconsideration.

The grant of special and specific jurisdiction to the Supreme Court under Section 18 of Article VII of the Constitution to review the sufficiency of the factual basis for the imposition of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is one of the many safeguards enshrined in the 1987 Constitution to preempt the recurrence of the abuses and excesses which martial law spawned under the Marcos regime.

Press Statements

PRESS STATEMENT
Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
0917-1023737 / 0916-6406737
05 July 2017

Pending release of the majority decision and the separate concurring and dissenting opinions of the Supreme Court Justices in the consolidated Petitions for the nullification of the declaration of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, I am limiting my reactions to the following:

Press Statements

Despite his unpresidential demeanor, profane language, abusive rhetoric and flawed policy statements, President Rodrigo Duterte, in his own inscrutable way, has held the nation together one year into his incumbency.

The President has galvanized a vast majority to believe in his campaign promise that “change is coming”. The people still await the coming of authentic change.

Meanwhile, the President’s popularity/trust rating has started to erode as people fail to see the fulfillment of his campaign promises and post-election agenda, which include the following:

  1. Immediate solution to the drug menace;

  2. End to the traffic mess;

  3. Obliteration of “endo” and rampant contractualization;

  4. Forging of peace agreements with the CPP-NDF and the Muslim separatists;

  5. Implementation of a 10-point socioeconomic agenda;

  6. Pursuit of an independent foreign policy; and

  7. Alleviation and eventual eradication of poverty;

Press Statements

Thirty days of martial law in Marawi City and the rest of Mindanao have aggravated the situation in Marawi City to inordinately horrific and miserable proportions.

The mounting deaths and destruction in Marawi City are the aftermath of the declaration of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

Thirty days ago on 23 May 2017, these were not the relevant and substantial facts when Proclamation No. 216 was issued.