Supreme Court Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, Vice President Leni Robredo and former President Fidel V. Ramos are calling on Filipinos to be vigilant and government officials to properly implement martial law to prevent a repeat of the abuses that characterized military rule under dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“Suffice it to say that the martial law power is an immense power that can be used for good, to solve defined emergencies; but all earthly powers when abused can result in oppression,” Sereno said in a speech at graduation rites on Friday at Ateneo de Manila University.

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“We know what happened. Marcos failed our people,” she said. “Those of us who were alive at the time bore witness to the human rights atrocities and the corruption caused by such absolute power.”

President Rodrigo Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law late on Tuesday after extremists inspired by the Islamic State (IS) rampaged through the predominantly Muslim city of Marawi.

He later said that he might impose martial law in the Visayas and the rest of the country if the terror threat spreads.

Assurances sought

Robredo sought assurances from the Duterte administration that martial rule would not be used to orchestrate a return to a Marcos-style dictatorship.

She said she supports martial law to blunt terrorist threats in Mindanao but saw no reason to expand it to the Visayas and Luzon.

“Many are fearful [of martial law] because of our country’s experience with [human rights] abuses. Which is why, in our expression of support, we want to ask for assurances from the administration and the Armed Forces that what happened during the dictatorship would not happen again,” she said in an interview with journalists while visiting Calabanga town in Camarines Sur.

“We wish to be supportive of the administration because, with the severity of the terrorism problem, now is not the time to quarrel with each other,” she said.

Ramos, who was one of the implementors of martial law under Marcos but later broke away from the dictator, opposed spreading military rule to other parts of the country and instead confine its coverage.

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“Let’s not allow it,” he said in a news conference. “The violence must be confined to smaller and smaller areas until martial law is no longer necessary.”

“Our government must take strong measures, without abusing human rights,” he said. “Let us see if that will happen because even without martial law there have already been so many human rights violations.”

Citing several Supreme Court decisions, Sereno said the Marcos dictatorship committed widespread human rights violations such as torture, rape, summary execution and hamletting. There was also unprecedented plunder of the nation’s coffers, absolute control of government and the country’s economy declined from being the second most vibrant in the region, she added.

Never again

“These excerpts [from Supreme Court rulings] together with unrefuted historical accounts are a testament to our country’s resolve to never again allow ourselves to return to those dark and terrible times,” Sereno said.

In one of her strongest public statements regarding policies of the Duterte administration, Sereno warned that the “possibility of history repeating itself looms imminent” and that “people’s fundamental human rights and freedoms, the core of our democracy, face grave and blatant threats” in the wake of the martial law declaration.

“The culture of impunity is on the rise. People are pressured to favor the easy choice over the right choice: expediency over due process; convenient labeling over fairness; the unlawful termination of human life over rehabilitation,” Sereno said, in apparent reference to the numerous killings in Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs.

“These are times when everything that can be shaken is being shaken, when institutions are being challenged to their very foundations, and basic ideas of decency and human dignity are being violated with great impunity,” she said.

She urged the graduates to make a stand and act to confront injustices and speak the truth even against overwhelming popular opinion.

“When you face threats to the sanctity of human rights or the stability of our democracy, give your all to protect these freedoms. Give your all to protect our nation and our people,” she said.

Senators JV Ejercito and Panfilo Lacson said Mr. Duterte’s actions and decisions must be respected.

Ramos, in particular, “should just keep quiet because his time is up,” Ejercito said. He blamed Ramos for the expansion of the rebel camps under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front under the Ramos presidency.

Lacson said critics of Mr. Duterte should allow his government to do what is necessary to resolve the crisis in Mindanao “instead of criticizing without knowing the facts and developments obtaining on the ground.”

Memorandum

To assure the public that martial law authorities will not abuse their powers, acting Interior Secretary Catalino Cuy on Thursday issued a memorandum to the police and other agencies under his department to remind them that the Constitution remains in force.

“In its strict sense, the military arm of the government does not supersede civil authority but is called upon merely to aid in the execution of its function,” he said.

“It also bears emphasis that placing Mindanao under martial rule does not permit curtailment of civil and political rights,” Cuy said.

Cuy said the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, which would allow warrantless arrests, covers only those charged with rebellion or invasion and they must be charged within three days from arrest. —WITH A REPORT FROM PHILIP C. TUBEZA

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