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Colmenares to Duterte: Don’t use Memorandum Order 32 vs. opposition candidates


Bayan Muna chairman Neri Colmenares on Sunday urged President Rodrigo Duterte not to use a memorandum order deploying more military troops to Samar, the Negros Island and the Bicol Region against opposition candidates in the 2019 elections.

In a message to GMA News Online, Colmenares said he finds it surprising that Malacañang issued Memorandum Order 32 just a few months before the elections, when thousands of people have already been killed in the two years of the Duterte administration.

"It is surprising that the thousands of killings all over the country for two years did not alarm President Duterte, but these suddenly became a cause for concern to him a few months before the 2019 election," he said.

"We warn President Duterte not to use these repressive powers against the people and the opposition candidates in the coming campaign period," he added.

Signed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea on Thursday last week, Memorandum Order 32 directed the deployment of additional soldiers and policemen to Samar, Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental, and the Bicol region to suppress “lawless violence and acts of terror” and “prevent such violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere in the country.”

The memorandum, which Medialdea issued following an order by Duterte, also reinforced the guidelines under the "state of lawless violence" he declared in September 2016 following the deadly Davao City bombing.

Memorandum Order 32 was released a day after Duterte announced that there will be a minor reorganization in the military, citing the death of soldiers in the government’s campaign against lawless elements.

He also reiterated that he will not impose nationwide martial law.

AFP backs deployment

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) backed the planned deployment, with military spokesperson Brigadier General Edgard Arevalo saying that the soldiers are waiting for the directive on how to operationalize  Memorandum Order No. 32.

"We are very supportive of the initiative of the government sa pagsawata ng lawless violence and acts of terror, upang masegurado na hindi kakalat sa iba pang lugar sa ating bansa," Arevalo said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB by Benjie Liwanag on Sunday.

In a separate dzBB interview, Senator Panfilo Lacson said that Duterte didn't need to issue a memorandum order to deploy troops.

"Even without a memorandum order, ang Presidente naman, even the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, upon the instruction of the President being the commander-in-chief, puwede naman silang mag-deploy talaga, kaya nga tinawag na mobile forces e," said Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police.

Pushback

The Commission on Human rights expressed caution over the deployment of more troops to these provinces to counter the supposed lawless violence in some areas. 

"Incidents of violence demand thorough investigation and expedient justice for the victims. This is the more immediate clamor that needs to be addressed to truly stop the cycle of violence," CHR spokesperson Jacqueline de Guia said in statement.

The commission added that "increasing the presence of security forces might escalate tension and fuel fear in the community."

The CHR urged the government to use development solutions rather than the military approach in solving the problems of violence.

“We urge the government to pursue development solutions rather than military approach to truly address the long standing problems that impact the basic rights and dignity of the people,” the commission said.

'Atrocities'

Colmenares, who represented the Bayan Muna party-list in Congress, said that the "lawless violence" that the memorandum purportedly seeks to stop is a result of the culture of impunity that the Duterte administration spawned.

"These atrocities have ironically  become the very ground used by President Duterte to issue his repressive measures," he said.

Colmenares also said the memorandum is only a "prelude" to more repressive measures by the Duterte administration, like martial law.

"He does not need Memorandum Order 32 to suppress lawless violence because, as he said, he can arrest or kill terrorists like the Maute anyway," he said.

"This means that Memorandum Order 32 is not really intended against terrorists but against the dissenters and opposition. This renders dissenters and the opposition vulnerable to increased surveillance, search and seizure and arrests for merely opposing his anti people policies," he added. — BM, GMA News

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