The Supreme Court ruling upholding the declaration of martial law just came out and people are now raising the alarm to a whole different level. The petitioners who lost in the Supreme court are now claiming that the Supreme court ruling will now give Duterte the legal cover to extend Martial law to the entire Philippines. Their logic shows why they lost the petition in the first place.
The petitioners should have seen this coming and the overwhelming majority who voted against the motion says a lot. Their motion was bound to fail not because the Supreme Court is controlled by Duterte but because of the very issue their petition raised to the Supreme Court. The justices have not given their opinions but I have a strong feeling the arguments will not dwell too much on the factual basis of the declaration. When the petition was filed, the biggest question was not whether Duterte had factual basis to declare martial law, but it posed a more important question – does the Supreme Court have the authority to usurp the power of the Executive to decide on matters of national security?
The Supreme Court decision today reinforces the principle and dynamics of a functioning democracy where power is diffused between co-equal branches. The Executive, Legislative and Judiciary are co-equal branches of government who has their own sphere of influence where no other branch of government can infringe on. The Executive branch has sole authority on matters of national security, the Legislative branch has sole authority in making laws and allocating government funds, and the Judiciary branch has sole authority to decide on questions of the constitution. These co-equal branches of government cannot infringe on each other’s sphere of influence. When the petition was filed, it essentially asked the Supreme court to infringe on the Executive branch’s authority to decide on a matter of national security. The petition did not raise a valid constitutional question because the constitution is clear that the Executive branch has the authority to declare martial law. The petition essentially said – we know the Executive has been given the constitutional power to declare martial law, but we want the Supreme court to intervene and negate this Executive power. The overwhelming majority vote that upheld the declaration shows respect and deference to the Executive branch.
The Supreme Court deference to the Executive branch is laudable and something we should be proud of. Instead, the people who lost the petition, are now questioning the Supreme courts wisdom, discipline and foresight. If the Supreme court usurped this power from the Executive branch, it sets a more dangerous precedent – the complete degradation of the dynamics that keeps our democracy stable. The people who are now raising the alarm after this decision seem to forget that even with the declaration of martial law the courts are still open and any violation of the constitution during martial law can still be brought to the courts. The Supreme court decision does not give the Duterte administration a blank cheque to wreck havoc across the country like what most people want us to believe. The Supreme court decision was about respect and deference between two co-equal branches of government, it was not about emboldening one branch of government at the expense of the other. This is something we have to celebrate, not use as fodder for our political agenda. The least the opposition can do is to wait for the justices to submit their opinion and hear what the justices have to say.
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