{"id":253279,"date":"2020-04-27T21:33:45","date_gmt":"2020-04-28T01:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253279"},"modified":"2020-04-27T21:33:45","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T01:33:45","slug":"palace-denies-prrd-using-covid-19-to-declare-martial-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/27\/palace-denies-prrd-using-covid-19-to-declare-martial-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace denies PRRD using Covid-19 to declare martial law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cNakakatawa po \u2018yan kasi hindi naman lang naman sa Pilipinas ang merong\u00a0pandemic (That\u2019s funny because it\u2019s not only the Philippines experiencing the pandemic),\u201d he said in a virtual presser. (File Photo: YANCY LIM\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday denied allegations that President Rodrigo Duterte is using the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic to declare martial law in the country.<\/p>\n

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque laughed off the allegation, saying the health crisis is a global problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cNakakatawa po \u2018yan kasi hindi naman lang naman sa Pilipinas ang merong<\/em>\u00a0pandemic (That\u2019s funny because it\u2019s not only the Philippines experiencing the pandemic),\u201d he said in a virtual presser.<\/p>\n

Roque explained anew that Duterte would only declare martial law if communist rebels continued to attack the government troops guarding the distribution of food and cash aid to the public.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Duterte said he might only be compelled to declare martial rule if lawlessness of the Communist Party of the Philippines\u2019 (CPP) armed wing, the New People\u2019s Army (NPA), persists.<\/p>\n

Duterte made this warning as he vented frustrations after two soldiers were killed and three others were injured following attacks by the NPA during aid distribution in Aurora province on April 21.<\/p>\n

Roque, meanwhile, reiterated that Duterte may use his \u201cextraordinary\u201d power to declare martial law, in case the lawlessness of the NPA becomes unmanageable.<\/p>\n

\u201cYan po ay nasa Saligang Batas. Wala pong pinagsasamantalahan ang Presidente dahil ang kaniyang batayan naman ay Saligang Batas mismo<\/em>\u00a0(That\u2019s in the Constitution. The President is not abusing anyone because his basis is the Constitution),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, the CPP said Duterte should stop using communist rebels to justify his penchant for martial law rule.<\/p>\n

The CPP also said Duterte should not highlight the NPA\u2019s alleged activities to cover up the administration\u2019s failure to address the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roque said he \u201crespects\u201d the opinion of Senator Panfilo \u201cPing\u201d Lacson to support Duterte\u2019s possible declaration of martial law at least in areas where the NPA operates.<\/p>\n

He said just like how Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao after the clash between government troops and Maute group terrorists in Marawi City in 2017, he could do so for select areas.<\/p>\n

Under the 1987 Constitution, Duterte may declare martial law in case there is \u201cinvasion or rebellion\u201d or \u201cwhen the public safety requires it\u201d.<\/p>\n

The CPP-NPA is tagged as a terror organization by the Philippines, the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Monday denied allegations that President Rodrigo Duterte is using the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic to declare martial …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":159355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253279","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=253279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253283,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253279\/revisions\/253283"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}