Inside Philippine politics & beyond

Why President Aquino can’t declare Martial Law in Tacloban

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Just my opinion

by Raïssa Robles

Forget Martial Law.

But President Benigno Aquino may be able to declare a “state of emergency”. I will explain that at the end of this piece.

UPDATE: 12:36 pm of Monday, Noevember 11, 2013

A state of emergency has just been declared and a curfew imposed in Tacloban City.

Aquino will not declare Martial Law in typhoon-ravaged Tacloban City.

He can’t.

Not unless Tacloban residents stage a rebellion, such as declare themselves an independent state or take up arms against the government.

The present Philippine Constitution clearly states that Martial Law can only be declared by the sitting President under two circumstances –

ONE – in case of invasion
TWO – when there is a rebellion

But there is another condition super-imposed: only when “the public safety requires it” during an ongoing invasion or rebellion.

All these were safeguards imposed after the Marcos dictatorship’s abuse of martial law powers. And by the way, it would be highly ironic if Aquino declared Martial Law on an island that gave birth to some of the power players of the 1972 Martial Law – Imelda Romualdez-Marcos and her brother Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez. And whose clan continues to rule the province.

It was for this reason that in December 2009, following the Maguindanao massacre, then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s government had to go through the rigmarole of claiming the Ampatuans had staged a rebellion. This was in order to justify Arroyo’s declaration of Martial Law there.

You can read about it more by going to this link. The Ampatuan family’s rebellion case has since been tossed out by the court.

Can Aquino declare a “state of emergency” then?

That is a gray area in the Constitution which simply states –

“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.”

But notice the phrase “lawless violence”. The Constitution does not define what kind of violence there has to be in order to justify the calling of the armed forces. It is left to presidential discretion.

Comments

  1. Sa mga taga-hanga ni Joe America (CPM commentator at bloggist), eto kaya siya?

    Biliran o Abuyog, Leyte, kanu ganuon pa man din.

    VIDEO | American shelters 100 neighbors in Leyte home at height of ‘Yolanda’
    By: Edison Reyes, News5
    November 16, 2013 8:20 AM

    A still image of James Ferguson, the American who sheltered 100 of his neighbors in Abuyog, Leyte at the height of super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), in this News5 Everywhere video November 15, 2013.

    InterAksyon.com
    The online news portal of TV5

    A kind-hearted American living in the town of Abuyog in Leyte province didn’t think twice in offering his home as refuge to about 100 of his neighbors at the height of super typhoon Yolanda (international code name: Haiyan).

    James Ferguson relates how he sheltered and took care of his neighbors from the strongest storm in the world this year.

    http://www.interaksyon.com/article/74951/video–american-shelters-100-neighbors-in-leyte-home-at-height-of-yolanda

  2. i am writing to this forum because i believe there are readers here who are in a capacity to convince policy makers. i feel gov should be thinking now on the reconstruction and rebuilding the urban areas devastated by yolanda.
    a yolanda housing commission should be formed to tackle mass housing. i am advocating vertical mass housing construction…5 to 10 story identical tenement buildings. some of you may have lived or have relatives at houses constructed by PHHC at projects 2, 3, and 4 at quirino dist qc, project 1 at roxas district, qc or project 6, 7 and 8, qc or even BLISS houses. these are gov mass housing programs but they are horizontal development. floor plans are identical, house appearances are identical. think how big a land area could be saved if we develop mass housing vertically that could be devoted to other uses such as green revolution parks, recreational parks, etc. let us call it ‘massa condiminiums’.
    why does’t the gov task gov engineers and architects (or even ask students for floor plan of a unit) to design one massa condiminium. the first floor is reserved for functions/activity use, reserved parking, and for flood hardship mitigation. the upper floors will be residential of multi-income level occupants, 3 floors for rental to indigents and low income professional, the other floors are for sale to other residents who are in a posistion to buy them on installment (e.g. police, teachers, self-employed professionals, ofw dependents, gov employees, balik-bayan retirees, etc. who work near the area). the idea is to provide a place to live near or in a short commuting distance to one’s place of work. units are not for investment but for owner’s residence only. rentals and ammortization will be by salary deduction. those who are not capable to pay monetarilly, they can pay it thru their services.
    vizualize building 20 identical massa condiminiun buildings in one area, then do the same in another area, then do it in another area again, how many families will benefit. of course this is a community or group housing and there will be social problems that will come up, but i believe in the resiliency of the filipinos, and solutions will come up like one building captain per building and building residents association, etc. and there are experts who can help on this. if kibuts and other communal residences were possible, why not this.
    on the assumption that this is a not for profit endevor but to provide jobs and housing to many, it could be done economically. when constructing this, all components should be contracted out. since many components are identical they could be mass produced, from rebars, doors, windows to easy to assemble kitchen cabinets in accordance with specs and standards. each building is contracted out to non-profit building constuction management team (BCMT) who will provide labor, management, admin personnel. labor and admin support should come from the local area, and if possible also the management. all materials supplied by the gov to the BCMT since components are identical. think of buying an assemble it yourself product but this is just in a big scale. of course there is a need to tesda train some of the labor. and of course there should be gov inspectors per building site to enforce building codes and standards so that the structure is yolandized (no short cuts and withstand hi-cat typhoon and at least intensity 7 earthquake) and these inspectors should also be trained.
    if the mass housing is near a tourist area, income generating ideas could be included in the building design.
    financing issue…pag-ibig funds, and charitable donations, pre-selling, gov dole outs (aka social funds..pdap,dap,4ps), etc. training…there are so many pinoy experts who are able to effect this and there is no need for foreign experts. since i am not a good writer, i am unable to express all that i have in my mind but maybe i have tickled your imagination that i was able to bring out a concept and you can read my mind that you are able to improve the concept. cooperatively we can do more and better. tangent to this are isuses on accountability, training, flood, standardization, job creation, peacefull cohabitation, creation of a mass housing authority, etc. if our asian neighbors are able to do vertical mass housing, yes we can too. libre lang po ang mag-dream. God bless our beloved Philippines. (i could be reached at [email protected])

  3. i am writing to this forum because i believe there are readers here who are in a capacity to convince policy makers. i feel gov should be thinking now on the reconstruction and rebuilding the urban areas devastated by yolanda.
    a yolanda housing commission should be formed to tackle mass housing. i am advocating vertical mass housing construction…5 to 10 story identical tenement buildings. some of you may have lived or have relatives at houses constructed by PHHC at projects 2, 3, and 4 at quirino dist qc, project 1 at roxas district, qc or project 6, 7 and 8, qc or even BLISS houses. these are gov mass housing programs but they are horizontal development. floor plans are identical, house appearances are identical. think how big a land area could be saved if we develop mass housing vertically that could be devoted to other uses such as green revolution parks, recreational parks, etc. let us call it ‘massa condiminiums’.

    why does’t the gov task gov engineers and architects (or even ask students for floor plan of a unit) to design one massa condiminium. the first floor is reserved for functions/activity use, reserved parking, and for flood hardship mitigation. the upper floors will be residential of multi-income level occupants, 3 floors for rental to indigents and low income professional, the other floors are for sale to other residents who are in a posistion to buy them on installment (e.g. police, teachers, self-employed professionals, ofw dependents, gov employees, balik-bayan retirees, etc. who work near the area). the idea is to provide a place to live near or in a short commuting distance to one’s place of work. units are not for investment but for owner’s residence only. rentals and ammortization will be by salary deduction. those who are not capable to pay monetarilly, they can pay it thru their services.

    vizualize building 20 identical massa condiminiun buildings in one area, then do the same in another area, then do it in another area again, how many families will benefit. of course this is a community or group housing and there will be social problems that will come up, but i believe in the resiliency of the filipinos, and solutions will come up like one building captain per building and building residents association, etc. and there are experts who can help on this. if kibuts and other communal residences were possible, why not this.

    on the assumption that this is a not for profit endevor but to provide jobs and housing to many, it could be done economically. when constructing this, all components should be contracted out. since many components are identical they could be mass produced, from rebars, doors, windows to easy to assemble kitchen cabinets in accordance with specs and standards. each building is contracted out to non-profit building constuction management team (BCMT) who will provide labor, management, admin personnel. labor and admin support should come from the local area, and if possible also the management. all materials supplied by the gov to the BCMT since components are identical. think of buying an assemble it yourself product but this is just in a big scale. of course there is a need to tesda train some of the labor. and of course there should be gov inspectors per building site to enforce building codes and standards so that the structured is yolandized (no short cuts) and these inspectors should also be trained.
    if the mass housing is near a tourist area, income generating ideas could be included in the building design.

    financing issue…pag-ibig funds, and charitable donations, pre-selling, gov dole outs (aka social funds), etc. training…there are so many pinoy experts who are able to eefect this and there is no need for foreign experts. since i am not a good writer, i am unable to express all that i have in my mind but maybe i have tickled your imagination that i was able to bring out a concept and you can read my mind that you are able to improve the concept. cooperatively we can do more. tangent to this are isuses on accountability, training, flood, standardization, job creation, peacefull cohabitation, creation of a mass housing authority, etc. if our asian neighbors are able to do vertical mass housing, yes we can too. mura lang po ang mangarap. God bless our beloved Philippines. (i could be reached at [email protected])

    • Siguro malapit din dito magpagawa na rin nang isang hi-rise elementary school. ang mga association ng mga market vendors magtayo na rin hi-rise na palengke sa kalapit. magpatayo na rin ng mga ibang support systems nitong maliit na communidad na eto

  4. to encourage people to evacuate, someone mentioned to use “tidal wave” instead of “storm surge” because that is a more familiar term even though it may not be as accurate. it sounds more scary, too.

      • ‘Storm surge’ is English … how many massa can understand it.

        BAGYONG BAHA …is magandang panakot!

        Add if U please…sa atin salita.

  5. ‘5. PLEASE DO NOT SHARE UNCONFIRMED REPORTS YOU SEE ON SOCIAL MEDIA and ON TEXT MESSAGES all this is causing more chaos and confusion if you have not been to tacloban and have not seen things first hand stop the situation on the ground posting hate statuses and unconfirmed reports because as a country i believe we should help one another including our government, PLEASE SET ASIDE POLITICAL ISSUES IN RESPECT TO ALL THE DIED AND ARE NOW SUFFERING IN TACLOBAN AND OTHER AREAS IN OUR COUNTRY. BEFORE YOU CRITICIZE THE GOVERNMENT AND OTHER PEOPLE ON THE GROUND ASK YOUR SELF THIS QUESTION. “WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP?” IF YOUR NOT DOING ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO RIGHT TO POINT A FINGER AT ANYONE.”

    There is for sure right and bad news…it is subjective. Different spots or places different feed back newsings.

    Over all thanks a lot to those doing the good things out there to HELP and HELP all those in need of HELP and HELP!

  6. “At one point during the interview, Roxas was arguing over the treatment of dead bodies left rotting on the roads. Stevens pointed out that every day, he sees the same decomposing bodies when he passes by the same road on the way to the city. But Roxas vehemently denied they were the same bodies, stopping short of calling Stevens a liar. The DILG Secretary showed his arrogance in that instance. Suffice to say, it is evident that it would be another colossal mistake if he becomes the next President. Korina Sanchez as the next First Lady doesn’t sit well with a lot of people either, specially since she is beginning to show signs of irrational behavior. Another CNN journalist can attest to this.” From getreal.com news

  7. Some people say that if “storm surge” had been said in the local language that more people can understand, it would have saved many more lives.

    While this may not be easy to prove, I would like to propose the term “ipo-ipong dagat” as the local term for a storm surge.

    People are aware of what an ipo-ipo (tornado in english) is and in effect, a storm surge is really a tornado in the water. In deep water, there is nothing to stop the movement of the water. But in shallow water, the water could not circulate as freely and therefore is pushed towards land causing a rise in water.

  8. “Yolanda’ victims survive on COCONUT JUICE, says health official.”

    “With the absence of enough food and water in typhoon ‘Yolanda’-stricken areas, a health official on Friday said that some survivors lived on coconut juice.
    “One of the impressions is that there was total absence of food and water. Some victims survived on coconut juice,” Health Undersecretary Janette Garin said in a TV interview.
    Coconut juice, according to the health book, Coconut Cures: Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Coconut written by Bruce Fife, has long been known for its “therapeutic effect on the urinary and reproductive systems”.

    Never hear even a city or town health officials in Leyte saying something on this. They must have lost their medical knowledge after Yolanda took it away.

  9. Yolanda/Haiyan have left us heartbroken and downtrodden, but the most unfortunate is that it has also broken our soul as a nation.

    We will never comprehend the agony and desperation of the victims unless we were there on the ground when the typhoon struck, and had to survive the aftermath. We have no right to tell them all will be fine, that they were lucky to have survived, that help will soon be on its way. We are not there, we do not have to sleep with debris and dead bodies all around us, we do not have to go hungry not because we have no money but because there simply is no food.

    We will not understand the frustration, the sense of being inutile of people who are tasked, or who wanted to help the victims and yet could not do so immediately because of severe constraints brought by the massive damage. We cannot understand because we are in the comfort of our homes, or in our offices, getting our information from news and social media, instead of being there in the frontlines. They had to endure taunts, insults and harsh judgments. When was the last time you did something you thought was good enough, and yet was found still wanting by others and was roundly criticized for it? Did you think they had the right to judge you that way? Let us be critical of the government so that it can improve its response, but let us also demand factual and balance reporting from media.

    We have been victimized twice over. First by Yolanda, and second by ourselves. When times call for us to be united, we tear each other apart. When times call for us to work together, we choose to take sides. I have not seen any greater polarization of Filipinos than what this calamity has spawned. I have not seen posts more vitriolic than what have been flying around social media the past days. The typhoon has broken our land, must we now break our own soul as a nation?

    I have said my piece, and people are free to agree or disagree. It is now time to focus on helping – in any way we can.

    • Maybe the gov’t can send psychologists etc. to help the traumatized. They surely need this HELP also.

  10. National Day of mourning….pinag aaralan. Really? Over a week of this…still ‘STUDYING’ it?

    SUSma!

    Declare it NOW! Even if you GUYS are LATE ON IT. Half-mast ALL PHILIPPINE FLAGS until December 7, 2013.

    Make the whole NATION CONSCIOUS of this DISASTER to the whole COUNTRY.

    • Somebody “rant” on facebook that went viral said, in part, that PNoy is not corrupt but is honesty the only thing he can offer?

      • I believe the government is doing the best it can although admittedly it may not be enough in the face of the enormous unprecedented challenge it faces. And that is why we must all help together.

        Can you imagine having to depend on authorities with plunder at the back of their minds even as they go through the motion of helping the disaster victims? And does this angry ranter really know anyone who can do better at the moment?

        It is very easy to rage. It is very easy to criticize. But it is very hard to come up with an immediate solution.

    • New York City USA, Empire State Building changed it’s LIGHTS…Red White Blue Orange to represent the PHILIPPINE FLAG!

      Here, our officials are ‘still thinking about declaring a DAY OF MOURNING for the whole country! DECLARE NA!

  12. RANDOM THOUGHTS ON TYPHOON YOLANDA
    .
    I attempted to post something yesterday but after hitting the submit button my comments totally disappeared. Maybe it was too long so I’ll try again but this time I’ll do it in bits and pieces.
    .
    When hurricane Sandy hit the U.S. the most advanced and sophisticated country in the world was devastated. With all the preparations and precautions made, including placing some 45,000 National Guards and Air Force personnel on alert for possible duty, the U.S. still sustained 87 deaths and $65 billion in damages. By comparison, typhoon Yolanda was much stronger than hurricane Sandy and the Philippine capabilities to respond to natural disasters are nowhere close to that of the U.S. So for now, let us set aside the blaming and finger-pointing – let us concentrate our energy and resources into saving lives. We can do the post-typhoon debriefing and analysis later.
    .
    In the U.S. people comply with forced evacuation whereas in the Philippines many people completely ignore it. How many times have we seen news clips of people living by mountain sides, or river banks, who have been asked to evacuate during typhoons who choose not to in spite of the obvious peril to their lives? Ang iba walang mapuntahan or takot manakawan ang bahay. Others stay for the thrill of surviving an adrenaline-rushing event.

    • Mayor Duterte was reportedly making suggestion to shoot to kill suspected looters. If this report were true, this was the most stupid and irresponsible thing any leader would say in times of calamity. You don’t respond to lawlessness with an even worse case of lawlessness. The looters are thieves but those who would do Duterte’s pronouncement would be murderers. Ako man siguro, kung mamamatay na sa gutom ang pamilya ko ay magagawa ko ring magnakaw ng pagkain, and I’ll be prepared to go to jail to save my family, but please don’t shoot to kill me.
      .
      Sangayon ako sa pagsibak sa pulis opisyal na naunang nagpahayag na 10,000 katao ang namatay sa Tacloban pa lamang. That kind of unconfirmed announcement is irresponsible – it will create havoc and feed hysteria among the populace. On the contrary, the official should try to calm and pacify the people. I’m not faulting the police officer, siguro na traumatized siya because of the severity of the calamity – something we never experienced before. Pero kailangang may pumalit muna sa kanya na mas may kakayahan at tibay ng loob.
      .
      Hindi naman ako sangayon sa gusto ni Mr. Romualdez na itaboy ang mga humihingi ng tulong na taga labas ng Tacloban. Masisisi ba natin ang ilang biktima ng bagyo kung magpunta sila sa Tacloban sa paniniwalang hindi nakakarating ang tulong sa ibang bayan ng Leyte? Kung tutularan natin ang logic ni Mr. Romualdez, hindi dapat tulungan ng America at Canada ang Pilipinas dahil ang bansa natin ay nasa labas naman ng teritoryo ng North America – tama ba ang ganitong pag-iisip?
      .
      I know that many big time politicians own a truck or two, a helicopter, a boat, or even a yacth. Maybe I missed it but I have not heard yet of anyone of these supposed “leaders” offering the use of their properties or equipment to assist in the relief good distribution. Nakalulungkot isipin na dahil sa kakulangan ng trucks yung ginagamit sa paghakot ng mga bangkay ay yun din ang ginagamit sa relief good distribution.

    • I have yet to see any news from Biliran. JoeAm’s house is on the slopes of a mountain, midway between the seashore and the top, in that tiny island province.
      Hoping that no news is good news!!!! Without electricity, he cannot even charge his cellphone battery much less have internet access. I am sure he will have vivid stories to share.

      • [email protected]

        You are correct. I remember at the time you discovered JoaAm leaving in Biliran, he confirmed and said that his house is overlooking the sea from a vantage point. Recently, he posted that the house is made of concrete and metal. So, no problem with storm “troopers” (per Leona).

    • I was just thinking of JoAm last night. Thank you Sir Johnny Lin. Yyes, where is Sir JoAm? I hope, he’s okay and around, maybe busy volunteering hands-on.

  14. I got this alert from a doctor friend…

    IMPROVING ACCESS TO HEALTH INFORMATION

    Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda:
    Health-Related Information Resources

    disasterinfo.nlm.nih.gov/dimrc/typhoonHaiyan.html

    Featured Sites

    Emergency Access Initiative
    U.S. National Library of Medicine
    No cost access to medical journals and books for persons in the Philippines and responders to Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda.

    The Cochrane Library
    Free access to The Cochrane Library for persons in the Philippines until December 31, 2013.

    The information was made FREE for a limited period of time. Very useful resources for relief and rehabilitation workers.

    What a welcome gesture! Thank you.

  15. News!

    “People died after collapse of NFA rice warehouse located several Kim’s away from Tacloban”

    “PNP chief relieved from post for stating that there were 10,000 casualties”

    Hear ye, hear ye President Aquino.
    If among the officials needed to be relieved immediately, they must be DA Sec Alcala, DA regional director of Leyte and the caretaker of the warehouse. They should have known that warehouse and informed PNoy if they could distribute the rice.

    The closeness of the warehouse to ground zero Tacloban would only take carts to transport.
    So close yet so far to the typhoon victims.

    Really shameful, these initial responders, govt officials, who should have assessed immediately their supplies near ground zero. Thus Sec Alcala does not have an excuse.

    He should not only be fired, he should be charged criminal negligence. It is his job as caretaker of food staples to order his men immediately or for that matter before the storm, to locate all their storage warehouses in their central location map for immediate relief distribution after the storm if needed, unless he was thinking that he was not part of NDDRMC, so he did not have to act which in all probability, that is what he did.