The spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command gave assurance that the rule of law will prevail in the implementation of martial law for another year beginning January 1, 2081.
At the same time, Major Ezra Balagtey, EMC spokesperson quoted his superior, Lt. Gen. Benjamin Madrigal, the commander of the EMC as saying that the extension of Martial Law was a manifestation of trust and confidence in the conduct of its security operation.
“We are assuring the public that we will faithfully conduct our mandate to protect the people and the communities in the Eastern Mindanao from acts of terrorism and in preventing the spillover of violence and radicalism in the region,” Balagtey added.
He said that the implementation will be ruled by necessity, proportionality, rule of law and respect of human rights.
He said the armed forces sees no need to revise the mechanism it established in implementing martial law.
“We find no reason to re-invent the wheel kasi okay naman ito and in fact as a result wala naman tayong human rights violation that was reported both on commission on Human rights and the Quick Reaction Team (QRT) of the civil society organizations in our area,” he said
He said that they have been continuously reviewing the mechanism that the AFP has established in order to further improve their approach.
“But as to the major revision on the mechanism, I don’t think so,” he added.
As for the allegations that the AFP has committed any violation on the Human Rights he said that “our actions would tell on how we implement martial law.”
He said that even if there was no formal survey conducted, many of the people in the EMC’s AOR are supportive on the implementation of martial law.
“Martial law is a tool to prevent the of spillover of terrorism here in the area and it will allow us to accomplish the objectives we have set and the targets we have set,” he said
“Ang ating basehan pa rin ay angating security operation plan in the conduct against the NPA plus itong declaration ng ating Presidente na tagging the NPA as terrorist which is anchored in the human security act so ito yung magiging basihan sa pag iimplement ng atin security operations as far as preventing NPA from conducting their atrocities in the Eastern Mindanao,” he said.
