Martial Law for dummies

ONE OF THE most prominent slogans and rhetoric, and probably the only issue of the “devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon”, trendy social climbing naïve millennials, irrelevant obsolete communists and the rest of the stupid idiots against President Rodrigo Duterte is the so-called spectre of martial law.

So we keep on seeing during rallies tarpaulins and placards bearing the same boring and stupid slogans i.e. “No to Martial Law”, “Never Again to Martial Law”, etc.

Alongside this fixation with martial law is the relentless almost bordering on rabid attack on former President Ferdinand Marcos who, by the way, had been dead some 30 years ago, plus the inevitable comparison of current President Duterte with the late President Marcos.

The way these idiots/dummies are screaming against martial law one would think it is pure evil, illegal and should not exist at all.

I prefer to lump them all as just plain stupid.

You know stupid, those knowing the truth, seeing the truth, but still believing the lies. Meanwhile a dummy or dummies is just another term for stupid.

Excerpts from the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines or the so-called “Cory Constitution”:

Article VII

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT

Section 18. The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of the Philippines and whenever it becomes necessary, he may call out such armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence, invasion or rebellion. In case of invasion or rebellion, when the public safety requires it, he may, for a period not exceeding sixty days, suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or place the Philippines or any part thereof under martial law. Within forty-eight hours from the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the President shall submit a report in person or in writing to the Congress. The Congress, voting jointly, by a vote of at least a majority of all its Members in regular or special session, may revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the initiative of the President, the Congress may, in the same manner, extend such proclamation or suspension for a period to be determined by the Congress, if the invasion or rebellion shall persist and public safety requires it.

The Congress, if not in session, shall, within twenty-four hours following such proclamation or suspension, convene in accordance with its rules without need of a call.

The Supreme Court may review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen, the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or the extension thereof, and must promulgate its decision thereon within thirty days from its filing.

A state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution, nor supplant the functioning of the civil courts or legislative assemblies, nor authorize the conferment of jurisdiction on military courts and agencies over civilians where civil courts are able to function, nor automatically suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

The suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall apply only to persons judicially charged for rebellion or offenses inherent in, or directly connected with, invasion.

During the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, any person thus arrested or detained shall be judicially charged within three days, otherwise he shall be released.

This can only mean one thing: that martial law is a legal instrument of a sovereign nation. Which brings this to mind: Cory Aquino who, according to the “devotees to the cult of the yellow ribbon”, was the epitome of all that was good and disente in these islands, did not remove the martial law provision of her 1987 Constitution when she was in absolute control (you know, a heaven forbid dictator) of the revolutionary government she herself declared.

The framers of the 1987 “Cory Constitution” (our present Constitution) where all handpicked by “Tita Cory” and not elected, meaning they were all subservient to her, producing a bespoke constitution according to her whims.

If martial law is evil as these idiots are now screaming, why then did her handpicked framers still include it in her bespoke 1987 Constitution?

Maybe because they realized that martial law is a necessary instrument of the state to protect itself and not some bogeyman conjured by then President Marcos. And take note that Marcos had absolutely no hand in the framing of the 1937 Constitution that gave him the legal power to declare martial law.

Martial law is declared either when there is near-violent civil unrest, war, rebellion or in cases of major natural disasters where there is a state of national emergency.

Take note, too, that martial law was declared five times by different presidents: Emilio Aguinaldo, Jose P. Laurel, Ferdinand Marcos, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and current President Rodrigo Duterte. And as you read this, martial law still is imposed over the whole island of Mindanao.

Really, there is nothing evil or dictatorial about martial law unless you happen to be someone out to overthrow the legitimate government by violent means i.e. the New People’s Army or NPA, their supporters and those ISIS wannabes that invaded Marawi City.

So if you’re one of those stupid idiots/dummies screaming on the streets against the “evil” martial law, your bias and ignorance shows. So there. (brotherlouie16@gmail.com/PN)