Sen. Risa Hontiveros Criticized Pres. Duterte’s Declaration of a “State Of Lawlessness”!!
On September 3 Saturday Hontiveros , criticized President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a “state of lawlessness” after an explosion in Davao City killed at least 14 people.
Duterte said of the state of lawlessness: “It’s not martial law, but I am inviting now the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the military, and the police to run the country in accordance with my specifications.”
Hontiveros, however, said in a statement on Saturday: “Contrary to the President’s instructions, they cannot, in any way and in any legal and constitutional sense, run the country.”Hontiveros explained that Duterte’s “calling out power” under the Constitution “should be limited in scope.”
From rappler report ,the “calling out power” refers to Article VII, Section 18 of the Philippine Constitution, which 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.”
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Duterte’s “calling out power,” she added, “cannot give the military and police extra powers.” She also said the military and police “still cannot conduct arrests, searches and seizures without judicial warrants.”
Hontiveros said a declaration of a state of lawlessness “should be merely an act declaring a status or condition of public moment or interest.”
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She said the Administrative Code of the Philippines defines “proclamations” as “acts of the President fixing a date or declaring a status or condition of public moment or interest, upon the existence of which the operation of a specific law or regulation is made to depend.”
Quoting the Supreme Court, she said declarations like these “should be ‘harmless, without legal significance, and deemed not written.'”
source: nationpress