As stated here two days ago, the President does not declare lawlessness (siyempre hindi — who declares lawlessness?), or a state of lawlessness, or a state of lawless violence.
Mali nga iyung sentence construction na iyon.
Ang kukulit.
He is the Commander-in-Chief, he has the Commander-in-Chief authority under the Constitution to deploy the armed forces to suppress lawless violence.
The Constitution does not require him to declare in writing a “state of lawlessness” or “a state of lawless violence”.
Hindi kailangan iyon.
HOWEVER, his numerous talking heads in the government have caused so much confusion that… it might be necessary to set down in writing his orders to the armed forces without revealing the disposition of forces and without disclosing the exact areas of deployment (put in the premise or the Whereas clause the existence of lawless violence, para matapos na ang confusion na yan; it is a premise, it is not the declaration itself.)
Second, his statement a few hours after the bombing that he would “invite the military to run government” needs to be clarified. Surely he did not mean that civilian offices and public utilities would be taken over by the military. Siyempre hindi. He needs to clarify exactly what functions would be added to the combat functions of the military, i.e., patrols; inspections in seaports, wharves, airports, etc.; supervised and regulated checkpoints, etc.
Third, he is leaving for abroad today or in a few days. He needs to put down in writing his to-do for his Executive Secretary, for the DND Secretary, for PNP Chief Bato, and for his Chief of Staff, and the Presidential Communications Office, so he needs to issue an order in writing anyway.
(and don’t forget a secret gag order for the confusing and confused talking heads in government).
#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.
