‘Historic’ joint session closes, fails to vote on martial law

The historic joint session of the Congress ended with a whimper on Monday evening, with lawmakers failing to vote on the resolution to revoke the martial law declaration in Maguindanao, even as a significant number of senators and representatives insisted that the declaration had no legal basis. Majority of Lower House members deemed the issue as "moot academic" since President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had already lifted martial law in Maguindanao effective 9 p.m. on Saturday December 12, even as the state of emergency she declared earlier remained in effect. [See: Martial law in Maguindanao to be lifted 9 p.m., Saturday] As the joint session began to wind down, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez moved for the assembly to express its sense that Proclamation 1959 was "unwarranted," "unjustified" and "unconstitutional for being unable to have a semblance or even iota of actual rebellion." However, Speaker Prospero Nograles suggested that the motion be taken in the Lower House's regular session, as the Senate has already passed their own resolution declaring the proclamation unconstitutional. [See: Senate OKs reso declaring martial law in Maguindanao unconstitutional] Session went into recess to allow Rodriguez to consult with the minority bloc, after which he withdrew his motion to accept Nograles’ proposal.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV Independent commission Liberal Party standard bearer Senator Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III said the lifting of martial law over the weekend virtually rendered Congress inutile as it made the two chambers' joint vote on the revocation of the proclamation irrelevant. "The President's action has deprived Congress of its constitutional mandate to exercise oversight on how martial powers are wielded," said Aquino. To ensure that the joint session will not be an exercise in futility, Aquino urged both chambers of Congress to create a jointly-appointed independent commission that "will study and come up with recommendations...to clearly define the conditions that would warrant the declaration of martial law, a definition of how the Commander-in-Chief should exercise martial law, and to provide guidance on the Congress' exercise of its oversight function over this presidential prerogative." For his part, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon, a former Armed Forces chief, proposed that Congress pass an enabling law that can clearly define “the nature of martial law under the 1987 constitution," what constitutes the crime of rebellion, the kind of extraordinary powers that may be assumed by the martial law administrator, “so that we will not again be confused whenever at some future time martial law shall be declared." No invasion or rebellion At the resumption of the joint session, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. was the first to reiterate his opposition to Proclamation 1959, which placed Maguindanao under martial rule and suspended the writ of habeas corpus in many areas of the province for a week. Pimentel, who is from Mindanao, said Proclamation 1959 was unconstitutional as there was neither an invasion nor a rebellion in the province despite the monstrous November 23 massacre that left at least 57 people, including 31 journalists, dead. "By resorting to martial rule without proper basis, the government substituted the criminal warlordism of the Ampatuans with its own unlawful warlordism," he said. Deputy Speaker and Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong, a relative of the Ampatuans who are being tagged as suspects in the massacre, said the state of emergency Maguindanao was placed under prior to the declaration of martial law was "more than enough to quell or suppress lawless violence and to conduct a no-nonsense investigation on the gruesome massacre and to facilitate arrests of suspected perpetrators." Cebu City Rep. Antonio Cuenco said Proclamation 1959's constitutionality was "assailable." A total of 18 House members spoke before the plenary. The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments today in an en banc session, after petitioners led by Atty. Harry Roque of Center for International Law pressed the high court to decide on the constitutionality of the declaration, as well as clarify "gray areas" in the application of the President's martial law powers. Towards the end, the two chambers of Congress approved the journal of the joint session, which began Wednesday last week. Adjourned shortly before 8:20 p.m., it was the first joint session in history on martial law. - Johanna Camille Sisante/JMA/JV, GMANews.TV