(Eagle News)– The Supreme Court has asked several members of Congress and Cabinet members to respond to a petition questioning the constitutionality of the one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao.
This was after the High Court said in a December 29 resolution that the petition filed by members of the so-called Magnificent 7 in the House of Representatives “appears to be sufficient in form and substance.”
Asked to comment “within a nonextendible period of 10 days” from notice were Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman of the Magnificent 7 welcomed the High Court’s decision.
“This augurs well for the petition which has survived the preliminary gauntlet which petitions have to pass through in the high court,” he said.
In filing the petition, Lagman and members of the opposition group asked the high court to also issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction on the extension approved by both Houses of Congress.
With the approved extension, martial law would be in place in Mindanao from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018.
This was the second time Congress approved an extension of martial law sought for by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The first approval was granted in July.
It lasted for five months and lapsed on Dec. 31.
Duterte had said the declaration of martial law in Mindanao was necessary to quell rising threats, including terrorism.