HERE we go again, this third run of martial law (ML).
The first time with the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, supposedly because of the escalating threat of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Even then Defense Secretary Juan Ponce-Enrile was ambushed.
Decades later, Enrile admitted that his ambush was fake. But in the fourteen years of ML, he and Marcos mangled our democracy so much.
Because of that Marcosian ML, this country saw the ugly face of absolute power, stood helpless before government excesses and abuses, and witnessed the birth of millionaires among military generals.
Martial rule had its second run in 2009 former when president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared ML in Maguindanao to quell the reported rebellion of the Ampatuan clan supporters. The clan was implicated in the massacre of 57 people, including journalists.
Unlike Marcos, Arroyo lifted ML after eight days, presumably to preempt the Congress’ opposition to Arroyo’s response to the Maguindanao crisis.
What the Duterte brand of ML will become and how long it shall last, remain to be seen. He himself states it could be one month, a year or years. His only clue: It will be a fight to the finish.
So, ML might be in Mindanao now just for starters. Meant to finish the Maute group, an affiliate of the ISIS, the fight could extend to the Visayas and perhaps Luzon.
And there’s the rub. Rodrigo Duterte considers Marcos among his heroes. Didnt he, in fact, finally have his hero buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani?
Didn’t he say that his martial law will be like the Marcosian ML? He is, of course, confident Congress will support him.
Unlike Arroyo who convened a joint session, his political lackeys like Vicente Sotto III are already saying Congress sees no need, no opposition. Besides, Congress is dominated by PDP-Laban who all want to please him.
Then he has gotten support from members of the private sector, no less than from the academe. Notice the qualified yes from the joint letter of the presidents of the five Ateneo universities in the country.
Jesuit fathers Karel San Juan in Zamboanga, Joel Tabora in Davao, Jose Ramon Villarin in Manila, Primitivo Viray in Naga, and Roberto Yap in Cagayan all call hope that the present ML implementation will be judicious. Let’s add to that cautious and swift.
Since ML declaration is meant for emergencies needing urgent responses, ML this time around should not, God forbid, be stretched akin to Marcos’s 14 years. That left the country in ruins, financially and psychologically. Too many pains and scars to count.
I was among the 25 million non-Duterte voters. Yet, in the face of the ISIS menace and the Maute threat, I agree with others that Duterte is THE man to handle this present crisis.
But let’s not forget Marcos was popular, too, garnering more votes (51.94 percent) in the 1965 presidential elections than Duterte’s 39.01 percent in 2016. People also thought Marcos was THE man to handle the CPP-NPA threats. Look where such popularity led us, ML no less!