Revolutionary government needed to quash terrorists

Batas Mauricio

JUNE 12, 2017 was supposed to be the 119th year of independence of the Philippines from foreign domination. Yet, 2017 is going to go down in our country’s history as the very year during which foreign terrorists, acting in concert with local terrorists and Filipino politicians, took over Marawi City, and exposed the invasion of our nation with the end in view of making it a territory of a worldwide terror organization.

Just like the time during which treacherous Filipinos collaborated with foreign powers to continue the subjugation of our country under foreigners whose only interest was to exploit the wealth and the geographical advantage the Philippines occupies in world affairs, 2017 is proving to be the year by which foreigners are consolidating their power here once again.

Is there anything right thinking Filipinos could do to uphold the sovereign integrity of the Philippines against the concerted efforts of their treasonous countrymen and of ruthless terrorists who will stop at nothing, including murder, mayhem, and senseless death and destruction, to enable them to assume control of the whole country? Anyone?

I stumbled upon a Supreme Court decision written by then Associate Justice Roberto Abad (in the case of Fortun vs. Arroyo, G.R. No. 190293, March 20, 2012) in which there is a statement–not a definitive ruling yet, though–to the effect that before the tribunal can review the declaration of martial law by the President, it is required that Congress should have convened in a joint session first to tackle the declaration.

That statement never became jurisprudence or established law, however, in view of the decision of then President Arroyo to lift martial law in Maguindanao before Congress had the chance to convene and act on the declaration. I am reproducing relevant parts of that statement here, for the information of everyone.

The Supreme Court said: “… Although the above vests in the President the power to proclaim martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, he shares such power with the Congress… It is evident that under the 1987 Constitution the President and the Congress act in tandem in exercising the power to proclaim martial law or suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

“They exercise the power, not only sequentially, but in a sense jointly since, after the President has initiated the proclamation or the suspension, only the Congress can maintain the same based on its own evaluation of the situation on the ground, a power that the President does not have.

“Consequently, although the Constitution reserves to the Supreme Court the power to review the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation or suspension in a proper suit, it is implicit that the Court must allow Congress to exercise its own review powers, which is automatic rather than initiated.

“Only when Congress defaults in its express duty to defend the Constitution through such review should the Supreme Court step in as its final rampart. The constitutional validity of the President’s proclamation of martial law or suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is first a political question in the hands of Congress before it becomes a justiciable one in the hands of the Court…”

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Considering the strength that the terrorists have shown when they first overrun Marawi City, and in fiercely resisting government forces out to retake it from them during what is now being called a protracted battle, “liberating” Marawi City would be a small victory, really.

What the Duterte government and the police and military authorities must now strive hard to do is to liberate the whole of Mindanao and, yes, even the whole Philippines, from the creeping encroachment of terror groups which are no longer just fighting the government for reforms or to wangle economic benefits for their members, but to dismember the Republic.

The fight in Mindanao today is no longer simply the kind of local war that had been fought there for decades. It has metamorphosed into a deadly international warfare where the real enemies are no longer simple Filipino rebels, but terrorists from outside the country whose agenda is to inflict murder, mayhem, and wanton violence as a means of amassing great wealth.

And this is where an “iron hand” is of utmost necessity. The rules of the war being played out right now in the whole of Southern Philippines have become so blurred and so complex that responding to the murderous rampage of terrorists with the usual methods–like martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus–has become passé.

While previous violent wars in Mindanao were contained only in that place, terrorists have now the capacity, the willingness, and the boldness or audacity to bring these violent wars even in the Visayas and in Luzon, more particularly in Metro Manila, the seat of political and governmental power in the country.

It has therefore become the imperative of the times that extra-ordinary measures must have to be resorted to by President Duterte and his government, like placing the entire country under martial law for an indefinite period of time, or even declaring a revolutionary government that will do away with legal niceties, if the Philippines would want to attain victory against its present enemies.

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Is there any law about unwanted advertisements suddenly popping of computer screens which are being used to browse the Internet, forcing computer users to watch the advertisements until they are completely played out? I think there should be, especially now that more and more people are turning to computers and the Internet for their work, researches, and social connections.

The advertisements are rude, because they cloud out the whole computer screen as they are being shown, preventing the users from proceeding with whatever they are doing in the meantime. Then, many times, the advertisements are even filthy and sexually oriented as they feature scantily clad men and women selling products and services, unmindful of minor-computer users who maybe doing something online.

Of course, the remedy is to leave the site that show those advertisements, and that is what I usually do when the advertisements start. However, those advertisements maybe justified as the means by which the online provider or the website that is being browsed over would earn some revenue. Even then, this matter has to be regulated, especially on the content and the frequency of the advertisements.

E-mail: batasmauricio@yahoo.com