{"id":253091,"date":"2020-04-24T03:02:24","date_gmt":"2020-04-24T07:02:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253091"},"modified":"2020-04-24T03:07:15","modified_gmt":"2020-04-24T07:07:15","slug":"i-never-said-i-will-declare-martial-law-prrd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/24\/i-never-said-i-will-declare-martial-law-prrd\/","title":{"rendered":"I never said I will declare martial law: PRRD"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malaca\u00f1ang on April 23, 2020. TOTO LOZANO\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has clarified that he never made a pronouncement that he would declare a martial law amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never said \u2018I will declare martial law\u2019\u00a0kasi \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0martial law\u00a0ho para lang \u2018yan sa mga rebelde, para sa mga komunista<\/em>\u00a0(I never said \u2018I will declare a martial law\u2019 because martial law is only for rebels and communists),\u201d Duterte said in a taped public address aired Friday on state-run PTV-4.<\/p>\n

Duterte made the statement after some individuals assumed that he might impose martial law following his recent warning about the possible police and military takeover of the enforcement of enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).<\/p>\n

On April 16, Duterte told the police and the military to \u201cbe ready\u201d to lead the implementation of ECQ, in case the number of quarantine violators continues to rise.<\/p>\n

The 1987 Constitution states that the President can declare martial law, \u201cin case of invasion or rebellion when the public safety requires it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte said he might only be compelled to declare martial rule in the event that lawlessness of the communist movement\u2019s armed wing, the New People\u2019s Army (NPA), persists.<\/p>\n

He issued the latest warning, as he vented frustrations over the recent NPA attacks against government troops who are helping in the distribution of emergency relief to people affected by the Covid-19 crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Pag nagpatuloy kayo ng<\/em>\u00a0lawlessness\u00a0ninyo, patay dito, patay doon<\/em>\u00a0(If the lawlessness and killings continue) and it\u2019s happening all over the Philippines, maybe I will declare martial law,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Duterte cautioned the NPA rebels not to force him to take drastic actions against them.<\/p>\n

He added that it would only be him who would know what type of martial law he might enforce.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am now warning everybody and putting notice sa armed forces\u00a0pati<\/em>\u00a0police (to the armed forces and the police), I might declare martial law and there will be no turning back.\u00a0Kung ano ang<\/em>\u00a0martial law\u00a0na klaseng gagawin ko akin lang \u2018yan<\/em>\u00a0(It\u2019s only me who will know what kind of martial law I will impose),\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Trying the ‘very best’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Duterte said the quarantine protocols were meant to stop the further transmission of Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cPara lang ito sa bayan<\/em>\u00a0(It is for the country) because we are trying to limit the contamination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed that ECQ will be once again extended in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, and other areas that are \u201chigh risk\u201d for Covid-19 infections until May 15.<\/p>\n

Duterte assured the public that the government would not conceal the truth about the Covid-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cLahat nang sinasabi namin dito, totoo, walang sobra, walang kulang. At alam ninyo ang ginagawa namin<\/em>\u00a0(All we\u2019re saying here is the truth, no more, no less. And you know what we are doing),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte also thanked the people who appreciate the government\u2019s response to Covid-19.<\/p>\n

He assured that his government would do its \u201cvery best\u201d to stop the contagion in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cKung nagustuhan ninyo, magpasalamat kami. ‘Pag sinabi niyong kulang,<\/em>\u00a0then\u00a0humihingi kami ng dispensa<\/em>\u00a0(If you are satisfied with our response, we are thankful. If you think we have shortcomings, we apologize). We\u2019ll try our very best next time,\u201d Duterte said.<\/p>\n

Around 6,981 people in the Philippines have so far been infected with Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Some 462 Covid-19 patients have died, while 722 infected individuals have recovered from the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte has clarified that he never made a pronouncement that he would declare a martial law amid …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":253092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253091","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\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253093,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253091\/revisions\/253093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}