It’s just Martial law

Gregorio Miguel Pallugna

DON’T worry about anything; instead, pray about everything, the Bible says. But there are simply some things that we cannot help but worry about and are probably unchangeable no matter how much we pray. For one, I am sure we could not be faulted if we worry about the people who drafted the Anti-Distracted Driving Act and the sorry state of their mental muscles. We can also worry about the fact that it’s only the middle of summer and the rainy season has already begun. No one can blame us too if we worry about the horrifying new taxes being proposed in Congress on practically everything! The list of justifiable things to worry about goes on and on. We can pray as much as we want but we are simply wired to worry about stuff that we could not have control over, such as stupidity. One thing we should not worry about however is the declaration of martial law.

A lot of the people who we would be justified to worry about, if you know what I mean, keep harping on the supposed threat of a repeat of the martial law experience during the time of Ferdinand Marcos. This threat however clearly comes from people who could not even take the time to read the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Unlike the time of Marcos, the present Constitution no longer allows the President to abuse the power to declare martial law. First of all, the president may only declare martial law for a maximum period of 60 days unless Congress later jointly extends the period. Also, the declaration shall be subject to the review of Congress within 48 hours from the declaration and is subject also to the reviewing power of the Supreme Court. The courts and civilian government offices continue to function normally and the only civil right which may be suspended with the declaration is the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, but even that is limited to cases of rebellion and those related to invasion.

The 1987 Constitution provides very clearly: “A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution, nor supplant the functioning of the civil courts or legislative assemblies, nor authorize the conferment of jurisdiction on military courts and agencies over civilians where civil courts are able to function, nor automatically suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. The suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent in, or directly connected with, invasion.”

Practically, the power of declaring martial law has been cut down to the barest minimum that a president would actually not earn anything personally beneficial if he invokes this provision. So, when the President declared martial law over all of Mindanao on May 23, 2017, there is absolutely no justification for any of the worries that came to mind. Sure, the trauma of the Marcos martial law has scarred the Filipino people so much that many of us could not help but flinch at the idea that the declaration has been made again. But this is brought about only because of the wrong idea that martial law is a bad thing. It’s the same as worrying about going out at night because you got sunburnt when you went out in the morning. The circumstances are simply not the same. The provision on martial law in the 1935 and 1973 constitutions consisted only of one paragraph and did not set limitations as to the exercise of the power. The 1987 Constitution however which was drafted right after the end of Marcos’ two-decade martial rule is akin to a pre-nuptial agreement made by a man who has gone through 20 failed marriages in the past. The limitations have been overdone.

So, before we waste our emotions fretting over the latest declaration of martial law in Mindanao, let us take a deep breath and review the law first. Martial law is actually a good thing for us (relatively) law-abiding citizens. The Bible is right on this one, worry not. There are a lot of other things we could be worried about, such as the state of mind of the person inside the Jollibee mascot who sexy-danced to Bruno Mars’ “Versace on the Floor” while unbuttoning Jollibee’s already awkward shirt revealing the red cotton-filled bare chest of the unfortunate happy bee. Forget worrying about martial law and search that viral video now, no one will blame you.