#Du30 needs to effect lawful arrests asap—this is Davao, he was a city prosecutor, it’s right up his alley
Some essential details first:
The President does not declare lawlessness.
He does not declare a state of lawlessness.
He does not declare a state of lawless violence.
This kind of sentence structure means he is imposing lawlessness, or that he is imposing a state of lawless violence, or that he is putting the entire country in state of lawless violence.
Rather, the President declares the existence of a state of lawless violence for which he exercises his Commander-in-Chief power of calling out the armed forces to suppress such lawless violence.
In essence, what he is declaring is his exercise of the Commander-in-Chief power of calling out the armed forces to suppress lawless violence.
To call out the armed forces is to command the armed forces, to order the armed forces, to deploy the armed forces. Etc. Only the Commander-in-Chief is authorized to do these (although he can delegate the operational details to his chief-of-staff.)
In other words, he is declaring that he is ordering the armed forces to suppress lawless violence by, for example, intensifying the hot pursuit of the Abu Sayyaf, the setting up of lockdowns and checkpoints in certain areas, etc.
Simply put: The President ordered increased military patrols and presence in the cities and crowded areas, etc.
Legally, it is not necessary for the Commander-in-Chief to expressly declare: “I am declaring the existence of a state of lawless violence…etc.”. He can simply deploy and order members of the armed forces to execute their mission.
But since he had in mind a whole set of measures such as lockdowns, checkpoints, etc. , he needed to declare the constitutional framework for what he was doing. That framework is the Commander-in-Chief calling out power.
In other words, he was putting military boots on city streets and tiled floors so he needed to declare his constitutional framework.
Amid all these huffing and puffing, what is the status of the investigation?
The President needs to order the speedy and careful conduct of the investigation so that criminal complaints of murder with ignominy, 14 counts, could be filed right away –- this is Davao and he was the top city prosecutor so he knows what to do. The suspects will not reply in the preliminary investigation so the reglementary periods could be fast-tracked – so that warrants of arrest could be issued right away. But if warrantless arrests would be made, the “suspects” can only be detained without charges for 36 hours only – make it count. THIS IS URGENT.
Lupang Hinirang (the national anthem, the title roughly translates: “Our Cherished Land”, translation with apologies; the traditional translation is: “Land Dear and Holy”:
This version is a reinterpretation of the national anthem by Joey Ayala, who hails from Bukidnon, lived and performed in Davao City and now composes and performs worldwide:
(i’ll be playing music from our brothers and sisters in Mindanao in the run-up to the inaugural; it’s about time we had a President from Mindanao — one would just wish that civil liberties would not be violated; the peace talks would prosper; and there would be immediate economic relief for many of our countrymen who are starving, homeless, dying, have no access to clean running water, electricity, and health care):
Duterte appoints a new spokesperson: A former pastor/ educator/ columnist/ theology expert — from the looks of it , an angel on earth– Ernie Abella. Stroke of genius.
After three surreal, literally midnight press conferences, resulting in eerie pronouncements on journalist killings [such as: “Kaya namamatay (“The reason they get killed”) karamihan niyan nabayaran sila (“most of them are on the take…) They take sides or sobrahan nila ang atake (they will attack too much) getting personal.”], and bizarre behavior such as wolf-whistling a female reporter, all resulting in bad press, all resulting in unnecessary loss of precious political capital, President-elect Duterte finally recognized the problem (“Houston we have a problem”), called upon the heavens and not Houston — perhaps even meditated in one of his silent moments — and with a stroke of divine inspiration, came up with a new appointment, replacing his erstwhile spokesperson who was supposed to be in charge of messaging and press relations: Meet the new appointment: a columnist and theology expert, former pastor, educator: former board member of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, Philippine Missions Association, and Koinonia Theological Seminary Ernie Abella. Based on the background information, and from the looks of it, the new spokesperson is practically an angel on earth
… you can almost hear Du30’s thoughts while appointing him …. (using my best Duterte impersonation in Visayan language): “Mabuti nga itong anghel ang i-appoint ko…. puros kami may sungay dito… 🙂 “ (hwag ka magalit)
Stroke of genius. His second rational move so far.
(however, he moved around his former spokesperson and his dear friend, the Ampatuan massacre lawyer, to the position of presidential legal counsel. Now, he understands PNoy who could not disappoint his appointee-friends even if they were politically costing him)
