President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday vowed to end destabilization efforts against her administration in “one comprehensive, continuing sweep." Legal experts, however, said Mrs. Arroyo overstepped her emergency powers by effecting arrests and raiding the Philippine Daily Tribune while the country was under a state of national emergency.. The government “must sustain the clampdown on underground conspiracies until these are completely mopped up and wiped out," Mrs. Arroyo told soldiers in an Army camp in Nueva Ecija. “One comprehensive, continuing sweep will deal with rightist coup plotters and left wing insurgents and there will no longer be ifs and buts about it," the President said. “The people have suffered enough and I am no longer willing to preside over chronic destabilization disguised as lawful political action," Mrs. Arroyo said. “We are determined to clean out residual threats of destabilization with the heaviest arsenal of Constitutional measures we can muster, and with full regard for human rights, whatever our critics say or do to twist the meaning and legitimacy of our actions," she said. ‘NO FACTUAL BASIS’ Legal experts, however, said Mrs. Arroyo overstepped her emergency powers when she issued Proclamation 1017, which put the country under a state of national emergency. Human Rights Commissioner Wilhelm Soriano said Proclamation 1017, which gave Arroyo emergency powers, “has no factual basis because there was no lawless violence, rebellion, or invasion." During Monday’s subcommittee hearing at the Senate on Proclamation 1017, former justice Vicente Mendoza said the proclamation was “no more than a call by the President to the Armed Forces to prevent or suppress violence and rebellion and to maintain law and order." “As such it cannot be used to justify acts that only under a valid declaration of martial law or suspension of the privilege of habeas corpus can be done," he said. Arroyo issued the emergency decree on February 24, citing a plot by leftist and rightist elements to grab power. University of the Philippines law professor Gwen De Vera, meanwhile, said the emergency proclamation and General Orders 1 to 6 “imperil" the Constitution. De Vera said that under Article 12, Section 17 of the Constitution, it is Congress and not the executive branch of government that could temporarily take over public utilities. “The test for sufficiency of factual basis [of the emergency proclamation] must be subjected to judicial review to prevent grave abuse of discretion," De Vera said. Dean Andres Bautista of the Far Eastern University, on the other hand, said the “police were a little bit overzealous" and the “legal validity [of the subsequent arrests and raid] is quite doubtful." ‘SUPER BODY’ Maria Socorro Diokno, Free Legal Assistance Group secretary general, said Mrs. Arroyo created a “super body" as early as January to prepare cases against perceived “enemies of the state." Diokno said Mrs. Arroyo issued Executive Order 493, which created the Inter-Agency Legal Action Group under National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, way before she issued Proclamation 1017. The creation of a task force under EO 493 was “very dangerous," Diokno said. She said the task force was tasked to monitor the activities of groups that are critical of the Arroyo administration. EO 493 mandated the task force to “strengthen the inter-departmental cooperation in the investigation, prosecution, and monitoring of offenses regarding national security." Diokno said Mrs. Arroyo allocated P50 million pesos for the implementation of EO 493. Roman Catholic bishops and other church groups, meanwhile, expressed willingness to challenge the “crackdown" on alleged enemies of the Arroyo administration. The church group under the multisectoral Kilusang Makabansang Ekonomiya (KME) will lead a protest march on March 28. Jaime Regalario, KME spokesman, said former Infanta Bishop Julio Labayen, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez and Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias will lead the demonstration. Politicians, soldiers and policemen “who still believe in democracy" are expected to join, Regalario said. He said the protest march will challenge the government’s “calibrated preemptive response" against protest actions. Police dispersed a KME-led prayer rally last October. – GMANews.TV, with reports from INQ7.net
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