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Friday, March 24, 2017
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“IF I declare martial law, I will finish all the problems, not just drugs,” says President Duterte in a press briefing after a visit to Thailand. Really?
The President wants all Filipinos to believe that martial law is a panacea to complex problems. It is, quite frankly, a very simplistic, crude and sophomoric view of the country’s very complicated woes.
History has shown – although there are shameless attempts to rewrite it – that martial law and all-out war only caused harm and discord among our communities. These worsened social injustice and human rights violations. Has fear and terror, curtailment of civil liberties, illegal arrests and detention solved the root causes of poverty, crime and the drug conflict?
Solving the root causes of poverty, hunger and massive social inequality, and promoting livelihoods and industries will. Limping the communities’ livelihoods and agriculture through “flattening the hills” may be good movie viewing but not in real life. Just ask the thousands of internally displaced civilians in Mindanao, those so-called collateral damage forced to flee their homes.
During the pre-dawn briefing with media after returning from his visit to the military regime in Thailand, the President said, “I will allow the military to try you and put you to death by hanging.” True, the President is known for his colorful language and hyperboles but some quarters view the repeated threats of imposing military rule as an indication of serious authoritarian ambitions. The public should be vigilant against martial law threats. These should not be taken lightly.
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