Solicitor General Jose C. Calida has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the three other petitions that challenged the constitutionality of the extension of martial law in Mindanao until Dec. 31, 2019.
In a manifestation, Calida pleaded the court to adopt his comment filed in the first case lodged by Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman. He asked the dismissal of Lagman’s petition.
Calida said the three other petitions have the same allegations as those presented in the Lagman petition.
Sought to be dismissed are the three separate petitions filed by the Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives led by Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, the group led by former Commission on Elections chair Christian Monsod, and the group of Lumad teachers and students.
The SC, which will hear the four cases in oral arguments starting Tuesday, has also asked the Office of the Solicitor General, headed by Calida, to comment on the three petitions.
Calida has also submitted to the SC the reports given to Congress by the Department of National Defense on the implementation of martial law in Mindanao for the whole of 2018. The reports were allegedly used as bases in the extension of martial law in Mindanao until the end of this year.
In his comment on the Lagman petition, Calida told the SC that the persistence of rebellion in Mindanao justifies the extension of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Calida said that contrary to the allegations in Lagman’s petition, rebellion – a key requirement for declaration of martial law under the Constitution – persists in Mindanao. (Rey Panaligan)