Saturday, 12 December 2009 00:00
BY EFREN L. DANAO SENIOR REPORTER
There is a conspiracy to prepare the ground for a bolder martial law that could cover the entire country, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said Friday.
She made the charge on reports of an attack on a military convoy in Maguindanao province in southern Philippines that was transporting firearms seized from property owned by the Ampatuan clan.
“I am very concerned with what is happening, particularly with [the attack]. The indication of more lawlessness and violence in areas near Maguindanao is part of a script,” Santiago said.
The military, apparently reacting to the senator’s allegation, also on Friday said that the attack on a convoy of security forces in Maguindanao on Thursday was real, not staged.
Still Santiago contended that someone or some group was trying to create a scenario of lawlessness to give the impression that there was ongoing rebellion in Maguindanao.
She said that the televised coverage of a joint session of Congress had made it clear to the public that there was no actual rebellion to justify martial law in Maguindanao.
She said that the televised coverage of a joint session of Congress had made it clear to the public that there was no actual rebellion to justify martial law in Maguindanao.
The joint session was convened to vote on keeping or revoking military rule, which President Gloria Arroyo imposed on the province on December 4 through Proclamation 1959 to nip the supposed uprising. It will resume on Monday.
The session was a futile exercise because, Santiago said, every lawmaker had made a decision.
“We have announced our preconceived votes before the actual joint session. We are losing too much time,” she added.
Numbers game
House Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr. also on Friday said that opponents of martial law in Maguindanao would have a hard time gathering 147 signatures from as many lawmakers to revoke Proclamation 1959.The number is the absolute majority of the 23 senators and 268 congressmen.
“That [147] is very difficult to achieve. I think that’s pretty difficult really. If you ask me, that’s the fortune teller in me,” Nograles told reporters during a press conference.
When asked if rebellion was the basis of the proclamation, he said that Malacañang should be the one to answer the question.
Since there was no actual rebellion in Maguindanao, the United Opposition (UNO) also on Friday asked the Congress to junk Proclamation 1959.
Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati City, also the president of UNO, cited admission made by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita on Thursday that no such uprising was taking place in the province to justify martial law there.
Ermita’s admission, he said in a statement, removed the factual and legal basis for declaring martial law as required by the Constitution.
“It will be difficult for Congress to uphold the declaration without being seen as abetting yet another move by the Arroyo administration to undermine our Constitution and the people’s civil and human rights,” Binay added.
Miriam sees plot
In raising concerns about a supposed plan to impose military rule on the entire archipelago, Sen. Santiago said that “these [moves leading to martial law across the Philippines] are all orchestrated. In military language, this is just acoustics [where] you have to create some noise so you could justify whatever you are doing. Plus, if this is a scenario, then there are producers who are spending the money to hire the thugs who are carrying out these acts.”
She named Interior and Local Government Sec. Ronaldo Puno, acting Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, a cabal within the military, and even the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States as possible “directors” of the “grand scheme” on martial law.
“This [scheme] would not necessarily come from President [Gloria] Arroyo. If you weigh the possible benefits, she tends to lose. So it must be some other group, the Ampatuans, the CIA, the secretaries of Defense or Local Government, or just a cabal or a group within the military establishment,” she said.
Those orchestrating the grand scheme, Santiago added, could find the present most timely to strike because congressmen and senators are already busy campaigning for the 2010 elections.
Military perspective
The senator’s fears may lack basis because, a top military officer said also on Friday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) was not even planning to place any other province under martial law.
Col. Romeo Brawner, the military’s Public Affairs Office chief, added that the incidents that happened this week in Basilan and Agusan del Norte provinces, both in Mindanao, were not enough reasons for the government to impose military rule in the area.
In Basilan on Thursday, Abu Sayyaf bandits beheaded a civilian hostage and in Agusan del Norte on the same day, gunmen took hostage 75 people, also all civilians.
An Abu Sayyaf rebel was killed in a clash with government troops in Indanan town, Sulu province, also in Mindanao, also on Friday.
“There were no reports of government casualties,” said Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino, the chief of the military’s Western Mindanao Command.
The fighting took place ahead of a scheduled visit on Monday of US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney, who will inaugurate an upgraded water system in Jolo, the provincial capital.
The project, carried out by the United States, the Jolo Mainland Water District and the Local Water Utilities Administration, is worth P73.1 million ($1.6 million).
Brawner explained that Maguin-danao was placed under martial law because local governments in the province were not functioning normally and that there was a report on a looming rebellion, unlike in Basilan and Agusan del Norte, where similar units were conducting business as usual.
Bishop’s call
Also on Thursday, a Roman Catholic bishop called on President Arroyo to also declare martial law in Basilan province after the beheading of a plywood factory worker by the Abu Sayyaf. (See related banner story)
According to Bishop Martin Jumoad of Basilan, he has no problem with martial law if that is the only way to combat violence in the province.
Rep. Abdullah Dimaporo of Lanao del Norte also on Friday told reporters that he favored declaring martial law in his province if that would discipline his brother-in-law, Vice Mayor Lacson Lantud of Pantauragat town, whom he claimed has become abusive.
“Lantud wants everybody to follow what he wants and those who will oppose him, they would be killed to send a strong message to his constituents that he is the law in his town,” Dimaporo further claimed before the weekly media forum Balitaan sa Hotel Rembrandt in Quezon City.
Meanwhile, the military leadership assured the public and concerned organizations that they were fully committed to defending and respecting human rights particularly with the imposition of martial law on Maguindnao.
“As a strong defender of human rights, the AFP has been in the vanguard in prosecuting members who have been proved to have abused human rights. It scrutinizes and takes legal actions [against] personnel involved in human-rights violations [based on] duly established and competent evidence,” the AFP said in a statement.
News crew attacked
The assurance came after it was reported that gunmen opened fire on a GMA 7 television news crew also on Friday in Maguindanao.
The crew was attacked around 10 a.m. in Datu Hofer town. There were no reports of casualties.
GMA 7 said that the news team, headed by John Paul Seniel, was filming a documentary on the wealth and power of the Ampatuan clan when shots rang out. It added that the armed men fired at least twice at Seniel’s group, which was about to take footage of the Datu Hoffer municipal hall.
Other members of the news team were cameramen Leoar Cajes and Randy Acedilla.
WITH REPORTS FROM JEFFERSON ANTIPORDA, SAMMY MARTIN, JOMAR CANLAS, CRIS G. ODRONIA AND AL JACINTO
