(Editor’s note: The author is a member of the Philippine House of Representatives representing Akbayan. He belongs to Ateneo de Manila Class 1966.)
Let me say first of all that we in Akbayan share the grief of the families who lost their loved ones in the Ampatuan Massacre. Those 57 people were killed while trying to ensure that a citizen could perform a basic constitutional right: that of filing a certificate of candidacy for public office.
It is precisely because we do not wish to dishonor the memory of these martyrs that we are opposing President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s imposition of martial law in Maguindanao. The president is using the cry for justice for the victims as an excuse to violate the constitution (and) advance her own ends. The 1987 constitution is explicit: Article 7, Section 18 states that martial law can only be imposed if an active rebellion or invasion is taking place. Neither exists in Maguindanao. What exists is a law and order problem, and the authorities were already taking effective steps using the regular legal procedures before the martial law declaration. The key leaders of the Ampatuan family, including Mayor Unsay Ampatuan, Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of ARMM, and Governor Andal Ampatuan Sr. of Maguindanao, have already been arrested and detained. Arms caches had been discovered and confiscated. Followers of the Ampatuan are said to be “massing” but the AFP and PNP Commands admit that they carry the “potential” for rebellion and are not actively in rebellion. Remember that the 1987 constitution does not allow the imposition of martial law to deal with the “imminent threat of” or strong potential for rebellion, which the 1935 and 1973 constitutions did, precisely to avoid a repeat of the use of martial law to install dictatorship as President Marcos did.
Why has President Arroyo chosen to use martial law to deal with a police matter? There are, in our view, several likely reasons.
First of all, she has come under heavy criticism for sheltering and coddling the Ampatuans. So this unnecessary and dangerous act is one way of defusing criticism and banishing the memory of her solid support for the Ampatuans before the massacre owing to their making her president in 2004.
Second, her recent decision to run for Congress has met with universal condemnation, and declaring martial law in Maguindanao is a way of deflecting attention from this move.
But what is most worrisome is that there is a very strong likelihood that this move can be a trial balloon for the imposition of martial law throughout the whole country. A plan to impose martial law on the whole country may or may not exist at this point, but the procedural precedents for such a move, should this become necessary and desirable for Malacanang, are now being set. The president may be testing if she can get away with declaring martial law without rebellion and invasion occurring and only the potential for it existing. The president may be testing if the Congress will allow her to get away with it without immediately calling for a joint session as provided for in the Constitution. Note that the first words from the speaker of the House after the declaration of martial law was that the Congress need not meet on the matter.
One must not underestimate the determination of the president to retain power. As credible witnesses have testified, she wanted to impose martial law at certain points in the last few years. The problem that made her behave this way has not disappeared: the prospect that she will be faced with many legal suits for corruption and abuse of power once she steps down from the presidency. She probably has realized that being in Congress will not provide her enough protection from prosecution. So martial law remains a live option. With the country entering a period of great uncertainty owing to the use of untested automated voting processes, there is likely to be many opportunities for discontent to emerge, opportunities that the president can cite as providing the potential for rebellion.
But we need not look far into the future. Already, the spokesman of the AFP, General Pangilinan has stated that armed groups connected with the Ampatuans might be fleeing and setting themselves in neighbouring provinces in ARMM and Mindanao. Is this not preparing us for the possibility that martial law might be extended in the immediate future to ARMM and even the whole of Mindanao?
To repeat, we must never cease to appreciate the determination of this desperado of a president to remain in power. We must never banish these fears as ridiculous or outlandish. After all, few ever imagined that a political ally of the President would ever commit such a heinous crime as massacring 57 defenceless people, and raping and mutilating the women to boot, for the simple act of filing a certificate of candidacy. We must never, never for a moment underestimate the capacity of the President to turn a crisis of her presidency into an opportunity for perpetuating herself in power. ? (As of press time, GMA has lifted Martial Law in Maguindanao)