By NITZ ARANCON
Correspondent
MAYOR Oscar Moreno over the weekend said President Duterte’s move to declare the country under a state of lawless violence was constitutional.
Moreno said this even as some sectors expressed their apprehensions over the declaration hours after Friday night’s killer explosion in Davao City.
Moreno, a lawyer by profession, said Duterte’s move was within his powers as Chief Executive and did not go against the Constitution.
His position also jibed with Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s position that the declaration of the state of lawlessness was legal and constitutional.
Moreno said as the Commander-in-Chief, Duterte is allowed by the Constitution to make full use of the Armed Forces to suppress lawless violence.
Former vice mayor Antonio Soriano, another lawyer, said the declaration only meant that lawlessness and crime have become “uncontrolled.”
“The government wants to be in control of the situation and so, President Duterte chose to declare a state of lawless violence,” Soriano said.
The declaration, he explained, would allow the President to quickly acquire weapons and ammunition, vehicles and equipment for the purpose to fighting lawless violence even without public bidding.
The same thing happens when there is a declaration of a state of calamity.
Lawyer Rey Raagas, president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Misamis Oriental-Cagayan de Oro chapter, said there was no cause for alarm because the declaration did not mean the suspension of the privilege of a writ of habeas corpus.
Neither did it mean martial law, Raagas said.
But Raagas doubted if there was a need for the President to declare a state of lawless violence because “Davao ra man ang gibombahan, dili man widespread ang bombings.”
Secretary Aguirre said the power of the President to declare a state of lawlessness “is legally justified under his constitutional authority to faithfully execute the laws, protect the people from lawless and criminal elements, not to mention the rampant killings, and the Isis threat to commit terrorism.”
Aguirre said, “It is not martial law because the military is not being called to replace civilian authority. Civil liberties are not impaired. In other words, it is just a declaration of a state or condition of lawlessness, nothing more.”
Aguirre noted that the state of lawlessness can be validated by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) and the National Police, given the rampant killings, terrorist acts, the entry of Islamic State elements and the seizure of smuggled M-16 rifle parts.
He said that because of this declaration, the military and the police can legally set up checkpoints. (with reports from pna)
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