PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte's order to send more soldiers and cops to four areas in Southern Luzon and Visayas proves his resolve to "serve and protect the people," MalacaƱang said on Friday, November 22.
Duterte, through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, has issued Memorandum Order 32, ordering the immediate deployment of military and police troops in Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and Bicol Region to "suppress lawless violence and acts of terror."
READ: More troops sent to Bicol, Samar, Negros to suppress 'lawless violence'
MO 32 also reinforces the guidelines of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the implementation of a national emergency, which was declared through Proclamation 55 signed in 2016 on account of lawless violence in Mindanao.
In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo guaranteed that people's constitutional rights will be "respected and given due regard" amid the implementation of Duterte's directive.
Panelo said civil and political rights, as well as all existing rules and applicable jurisprudence during a state of national emergency, would remain observed by members of the AFP and the PNP.
"The Order reflects the President's assurance to our people that authorities will continue respecting and giving due regard to the constitutional rights of all individuals while it is in place," the Palace official said.
"All these measures are being undertaken pursuant to the constitutional command to the President to serve and protect the people," he added.
Under MO 32, the recent "sporadic acts of violence" in the four areas are valid grounds to deploy the AFP and PNP personnel.
Panelo, in particular, cited the ambush of soldiers providing relief to victims of a typhoon in Northern Samar, armed attack at the police station in Lapinig, ambush attack against the 63rd Infantry Battalion in Matuguinao, and assault on the former mayor of San Jose de Buan in Samar.
He also noted that in Negros Oriental, incidents of torching of heavy equipment in Manjuyod, strafing of the house of the barangay chairman, attack of police detachments, and the killing of a police chief in separate occasions in Guihulngan were recorded.
He took note of the lawlessness in Negros Occidental, specifically the massacre of nine sugar workers in Sagay and the attack against the 62nd Infantry Battalion while conducting clearing and combat operations in preparation for the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections in Kabankalan.
In Bicol Region, a series of instances of lawlessness like the ambush of the convoy of Food and Drug Administration director-general Nela Charade Puno in Camarines Sur, firefights in Lagonoy, and clash in Bato occurred in the past months, Panelo stressed.
"In the past months, a wave of lawless violence occurred in the aforesaid places with the entire nation watching or hearing in horror the killing and ambush of uniformed personnel, attacks on police stations, torching and destruction of equipment, massacre of civilians, and murders of local officials," the Palace official said.
"The Palace views with concern the growing number of sporadic acts of violence that have recently occurred in various areas of the country, particularly in Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and the Bicol Region, which have been committed by lawless groups," he added.
Panelo said the memorandum was compliant with Proclamation 55, which is still implemented to suppress and prevent acts of lawless violence "while ensuring the respect and protection of the fundamental rights of our citizenry."
"The Order is in accordance with Proclamation No. 55 where the President declared a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence and ordered the AFP and PNP not just to suppress any and all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao but also to prevent such lawless violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere in the Philippines," he said. (SunStar Philippines)