The National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) called on President Rodrigo Duterte to recall the declaration and order the military to refrain from resorting to aerial bombings, mortar shelling and other forms of military offensive as these would endanger the lives of civilians and non-combatants in the affected areas.
NUPL questioned the ‘sledgehammer knee-jerk reaction’ of the president to the conflict in Marawi.
“Placing the entire Mindanao under martial law will open the flood gates for unbridled human rights violations and abuses. In the end, it is the civilian population who will be greatly affected. It gives blanket power and authority to conduct military crackdowns and operations that would result in the further diminution of the people’s constitutional rights,” Atty. Ephraim B. Cortez, Secretary-General of the NUPL said.
The group also released an advisory for the public to know their rights under a Martial Law declaration.
The group of human rights lawyers said the declaration of Martial Law does NOT:
- suspend the operation of the Constitution
- supplant the functioning of the civilian courts or legislative bodies
- give jurisdiction on military courts and agencies over civilians
- automatically suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus (where a person detained can question the legal basis of her/his arrest or detention and seek immediate liberty).
- In any event and under all circumstances, you have the right, among others:
- to be presumed that you are innocent
- against incriminating yourself
- to due process
- to invoke the right to remain silent and the right not to speak until a lawyer of your choice assists you
- against use of excessive and unnecessary force upon arrest
- to be informed why you are being arrested
- against illegal arrests, searches and detention
- against warrantless arrests (except for instance when you have just committed, is committing or about to commit a crime)
- against torture, solitary confinement, cruel, degrading and inhuman punishment
- right to counsel and access to her/him at all times
- right to be visited by family, religious and rights organizations
NUPL also joined Suara Bangsamoro, Bayan, Anakpawis and other groups that asserted the solution to the peace conflict in Mindanao is to address the basic problems of the Moro people such as poverty and landlessness.
