‘God bless our country’

DAVAO City — Martial law Duterte style is an “unconventional way of developing the whole of Mindanao,” former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., said.

In a statement, the elder Pimentel, father of the incumbent Senate President and a victim of human rights violation under Marcos’ martial law said it might be premature to say at this stage that President Rodrigo Duterte, whom he described as a “uniquely thinking leader,” and the legislators are wrong.

Congress in joint session on Saturday voted 261-18 to grant the request of Duterte to extend martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus until 31 December 2017.

“Looks like the people through their elected representatives have just expressed their desire to uphold an unconventional way of developing the whole of Mindanao via the ML (martial law) process initiated by a uniquely thinking leader of the nation,” Pimentel said.

“To speculate that abuses might taint the good intentions of the administration seem distant considering that unlike the Marcos martial law, the imposition of martial law in this period of our history is circumscribed by a number of safeguards,” he said, citing at least six: by Congress itself, as defined in the Constitution; by the military and the law enforcers themselves, exercising restraint as  Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces Chief  of Staff General Eduardo Año public vowed before the people.

Lorenzana is the martial law adminsitrator while Año is the martial law implementor.

A third safeguard is by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, “who, speaking for the President, vowed strict government supervision on the implementation of martial law to ensure that the rights and liberties of the people remain secure.”

“God bless our country and people,” he said. (mindanews)