DAVAO City — A former partylist lawmaker warned President Rodrigo Duterte not to toy with the idea of declaring martial law nationwide.
“Martial law will not solve the problem of the Filipinos, it will only exacerbate the problems,” said Makabayan Coalition Chair Neri Colmenares.
Colmenares was among the personalities who attended the launching of the Movement Against Tyranny (MAT) on Monday here.
In an interview, Colme-nares said Duterte’s attitude can be compared to that of the late dictator President Ferdinand Marcos who imposed martial law in 1972.
But he said Duterte “seems like he wants everyone, the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman, Congress, Commission on Human Rights, church, media, to agree to him.”
Three days before the 45th anniversary of martial law, human rights activists and Martial Law survivors here launched a movement to campaign against the “militarist rule” of the Duterte administration.
During the gathering held at the Davao United Methodist Learning Center, Bishop Jonathan Casimina, lead convener of the Southern Mindanao chapter of the MAT said they saw the need for the people to voice out their concern on the increasing cases of extrajudicial killings, martial law in Mindanao, and the war on drugs.
Davao City is the second stop of the formation outside Metro Manila after Iloilo City.
“We need to be patient and look at the issue as an issue. We should look at Duterte not as a mayor of Davao City but as President of the Philippines,” he said.
The MAT in Davao City will join the nationwide protest today. (davaotoday.com)
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