AS SEEN ON TV
The cheapening of Martial Law
A Basilan Bishop now wants Martial Law over Basilan province in the light of recent abductions, beheadings, jailbreaks, and explosions. Bishop Martin Jumuad believes Martial Law is needed to re-establish peace and order in the province.
Bishop Jumuad’s wish came in the heels of the lifting of Martial Law in Maguindanao, which was declared by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in order for the government to curb lawlessness there.
But it is not Bishop Jumuad’s lucky day. Malacañang has no plans of declaring Martial Law or even a state of emergency in Basilan, as announced by defense czar Norberto Gonzales.
This is exactly the drawback of President Arroyo’s declaration of an 8-day Martial Law in Maguindanao. It only cheapened and trivialized the president’s special power to declare Martial Law or use emergency powers to fight invasion or quell rebellion.
The Maguindanao Martial Law only opened the floodgates for others to seek Martial Law as an option to fight lawlessness, something which is already a basic deliverable of law enforcement agencies.
Is peace and order in the country so out of control that Martial Law is necessary to pursue lawless elements? And who’s to say the level of lawlessness is beyond control that Martial Law is the only way to ease it? Do we now declare Martial Law to fight private armies, goons or crime rings with well-placed supporters? How about Martial Law to round up Iloilo’s Bukas Kotse gang? Nah… just pointing out the parallelisms, hyperbolically.
There is a reason why Martial Law is a last resort for any president. The declaration of Martial Law may violate basic civil liberties of individuals hence there has to be a valid reason than lawlessness or failure of law enforcement.
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Anyone who followed the Agusan hostage drama closely would be amazed at how simplistic (to a point hilarious) the tribal justice system can be. But laugh not yet, tribal justice may have its merits as far as speed and efficiency is concerned compared to our standard justice system which may not be as fast or judicious.
Ondo Perez who led a group of 18 Manobo tribe members took over a hundred people hostage culminating a long standing family feud with another Manobo clan had a list of demands including animal sacrifice. Perez believes the culling of chickens and pigs will usher in justice as part of the Manobo tribal justice system. The bizarre hostage drama ended Sunday night with the release of the remaining hostages and the arrest of Perez and 18 of his men who were turned over to the Archdiocese of Butuan until tribal elders sort out what happened and how justice shall be served.
Perez’ cases shall be reviewed by the tribal council. Some of these cases will be heard and decided upon by the tribal council itself, while the other criminal cases shall be turned over to the mainstream courts for decision. Although his means (hostage taking) is not highly recommended, Perez’ goal is really to forge peace with a long time rival.
The resolution of the Agusan hostage crisis and the dispensation of cases against Ondo Perez remind me of Kalinga’s “Bodong”, a unique and traditional tribal justice system used by Kalinga tribes to settle conflict or differences through peace rites. Through a peace pact, warring tribal leaders pledge to ally with each other to end conflict. Unity breeds peace in other words and folk wisdom dictates that conflicts be settled amicably.
We can learn a few things about justice from our indigenous peoples. Their system is simple, pure and devoid of irritating maneuverings and the transactional nature of court litigation.
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Tiger Woods goes into semi retirement from Tennis at the peak of his career because of a scandal rocking his marriage. Along with his admission of infidelity came an announcement that he will take a side step from his career to focus on his family life.
Although there’s no excuse for cheating on one’s wife, I feel for Tiger Woods who is giving up a professional golf career which is just reaching its zenith, because of a personal crisis. It’s admirable how westerners take moral ascendancy by heart that figuring in a scandal (which has nothing to do with his being the world golf champ in the first place) will still make them cower from public eye.
Many US government officials have openly apologized for their philandering and subsequently resigned (even without being asked to) because they feel they have no moral ascendancy to lead as they mishandled their personal lives.
It’s a different picture in the Philippines where many leaders who get entangled not just in personal scandals but in professional misdeeds or official indignities still need to be dragged out of their offices resisting, kicking and biting.
