{"id":103919,"date":"2017-05-24T20:55:21","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T00:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=103919"},"modified":"2017-05-24T20:55:21","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T00:55:21","slug":"president-duterte-assures-no-abuses-under-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/05\/24\/president-duterte-assures-no-abuses-under-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"President Duterte assures no abuses under martial law"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cI<\/a>
\u201cI will assure you I am not willing to allow abuses. Government is still running, the Congress is functioning, and the courts are open for citizens to seek grievance,\u201d Duterte stressed. (Photo: Presidential Photo\/ Philippine News Agency<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014 President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday assured the public that he will not allow abuses in the implementation of martial law in Mindanao amid concerns raised on the possibility of human rights abuses similar to those perpetrated during the Marcos era.<\/p>\n

The President made the assurance in a press briefing shortly upon arriving at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport from a shortened official visit to Russia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will assure you I am not willing to allow abuses. Government is still running, the Congress is functioning, and the courts are open for citizens to seek grievance,\u201d Duterte stressed.<\/p>\n

He also assured the public that in all decisions and actions, the primordial concern is the safety and welfare of the people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is our Constitutional mandate to enforce the law and provide security. It is our Constitutional duty to ensure that every family, every community, all Filipinos, are assured to live in peace and harmony. We will stay true to our mandate and duty, this I can assure everyone,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

The President cut short his visit to Moscow after declaring martial law in Mindanao following violent clashes between government troops and the Maute Group in Marawi City on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The clashes erupted after security forces troops raided the hideout of Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader who has been tagged as the head of the Islamic-inspired terror group in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

Duterte said the series of terror acts committed by the Maute group, which included the taking over and burning of several government facilities, establishing checkpoints within the city and flying the ISIS flag, constituted the crime of rebellion.<\/p>\n

The acts committed by the terrorist group also resulted in the loss of lives of government forces as well as the displacement of innocent civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese things government cannot allow. It is an open defiance and the violence, the atrocities continue. Government must put an end to this. I cannot gamble with ISIS because they are everywhere. And, you know what is happening or you must be very aware of what happened in the Middle East,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n

With the declaration of martial law, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is likewise suspended in the entire Mindanao island, including the provinces of Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu.<\/p>\n

\u201cCheckpoints will be allowed; searches will be allowed; arrest without a warrant will be allowed in Mindanao. And I do not need to secure any search warrant or a warrant of arrest,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

However, the President said that law-abiding citizens have nothing to worry about the imposition of martial law.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemember that this is not intended for the law-abiding citizens. We are the least of your worry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if you confront government, and my orders are one: to enforce the law. And anyone caught possessing a gun and confronting us with violence, my orders are shoot to kill,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, I will not allow abuses. The courts are open. But anyone now holding a gun, confronting government with violence, my orders are spare no one. Let us solve the problem of Mindanao once and for all,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

The President likewise said that he may consider expanding the areas covered by martial law to include the Visayas.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernment may consider the covered areas of Martial Law in the event that members of the Maute group and other ISIS affiliated terrorists seek sanctuary or expand their terroristic activities in the Visayas and Mindanao.\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014 President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday assured the public that he will not allow abuses in the implementation of martial …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":103906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[3195,19509,13135],"class_list":["post-103919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-martial-law","tag-no-abuses","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","mauthors-cielito-m-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}