Monday, September 5, 2016

Duterte signs proclamation on state of lawlessness - Must Watch!

President Rodrigo Duterte signed on Monday a proclamation putting the country under a state of emergency on account of lawless violence.

Duterte signed the document before flying off to Laos for the Asean summit.

Presidential Communications Office (PCO) Asec. Kristian Ablan said the proclamation "technically took effect today and remains in force until lifted by the President."

Duterte made a verbal announcement of declaring a state of lawlessness nationwide on the wee hours of Saturday morning — hours after a night market blast killed 14 in his hometown Davao City. He said he would later put this into formal writing.

Ablan said the declaration commands the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) to undertake measures permitted by the Constitution and laws to suppress all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao and prevent lawless violence from spreading elsewhere across the country.

He said the State of National Emergency on account of lawless violence would give "due regard to fundamental and civil political rights" and would have nothing to do with martial law or the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

"It's just a stepped-up campaign of the police and the military to to ensure the safety of the general public," the Palace official said.

For his part, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said a copy of the proclamation had yet to be released.

Checks and balance

Meanwhile, Sen. Dick Gordon on Sunday allayed fears of another martial law, saying what the President announced early Saturday morning was different.

Gordon, who heads the Committee on Accountability of Public Officers and Investigation or commonly known as the Blue Ribbon Committee, said the Senate would be open to receive and probe into complaints of abuses of the police or the military under a state of emergency due to lawlessness.

Source: CNN Philippines