MANILA: Presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed to avoid declaring martial law during his administration should he win in the May 9 elections.
The former senator said the power to declare martial law vested upon the chief executive by the 1987 Constitution has limits and strict requisites designed to prevent abuse.
He explained that martial law should be used only in an “extreme and emergency situation” such as existence of war.
“I don’t see it happening in the near future. I don’t see that there’s going be that necessity,” Marcos stressed when asked if he would commit to not declaring martial law if he wins the presidency.
He said either declaring martial law or engaging in war is “something we will like to avoid as much as we can.”
“We will certainly do everything we can to avoid getting into that situation. It’s an extreme and emergency situation,” Marcos pointed out.
“We will try to avoid that, especially considering that we are recovering from the pandemic and we’re trying to rebuild our economy and refocus our energy so that the Filipinos can go back to work and feed their families. Being involved in a war or military confrontation is highly counterproductive, so that is something we will like to avoid as much as we can,” he explained. But Marcos said martial law, despite its negative connotation due to its association with extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses during his late father’s regime, should be kept as an extreme option.
“Martial law is needed when you are at war. And I sincerely pray and hope that that never happens,” he said, citing the example of Ukraine where martial law is declared to defend its territory from Russian invasion.
“When enemy forces entered the borders of Ukraine they declared martial law. That is a necessity, but it only comes up when we are at war. That is why despite the criticisms against martial law it remains in the Constitution, in the event that war is declared upon us or we are somehow embroiled in a war, then we will need to institute martial law,” he further argued.
Marcos reiterated his position to keep the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) that was created after the 1986 People Power revolution to run after the ill-gotten wealth of his father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
He said he plans to even recreate and strengthen PCGG to turn it into a general anti-corruption body.
“Although you can say that the first time it was organized it was an anti-Marcos agency. Nonetheless we can turn it into a real anti-corruption agency,” he suggested.
Marcos believes that while the commission had already served its original purpose, it was also created to address corruption which he said “remains to be a big problem in our government.”
“And the job that it was meant to do from the beginning has not been finished. And so, we should look into – if not strengthening the PCGG as it stands now – recreating that kind of body that will perform that anti-corruption function,” Marcos added.
