Maguindanao Under Martial Law

President Arroyo has declared Martial Law in Maguindanao area early hours of Friday evening and took effect starting Saturday 5th of December 2009. Under Proclamation No. 1959 President Arroyo can declare such state but has to reason out in the house of representative which may happen on Monday December 08, 2009. Now this is getting out of hand and the government is using their last card on the deck to solve the Maguindanao massacre case. The President decided to proclaim Martial Law because of the presence of "heavily armed men" that has established position to resist or fight government troops.

This case will cause the government huge amount of money, the Maguindanao massacre is the GOVERNMENTS FAULT, and this administration has made it happened. In short this government partly killed those defenseless people. This government literally cuddled and fed the Ampatuans and the private armies in Maguindanao. Who supplied them with high powered government issue firearms that was used to kill the Mangundadatu's? Yes, you got it right, the Arroyo government to be exact the "Department of National Defense" which was confirmed when the investigators dug weapons near the Ampatuan's mansion.

The problem in Mindanao has been going on for more than 40 years, no administration took this seriously. If they did, it could have been ended a long time ago. The war lords, private armies attitude,and lawlessness in Mindanao especially in Maguindanao was ignored time and time again until the Massacre happened and when the Philippines got the worldwide media attention.

The Filipino people has suffered enough during the Marcos regime. We paid to get our freedom back with our own precious blood and here we are again another Martial Law? It is a very sad scenario, martial law is not the answer to the problem. Violence begets violence, we can only hope that the Military will not abuse this and no human rights will be violated. We expect so many warrant less arrest regarding the case and I think this is also strategically planned to capture every individual link to the Massacre.

Now, on the other side the government can wipe this out so easily, the severity of this case and the involvement of government officials can be very humiliating. These could be enough reason for the government to sabotage the investigation by declaring martial law.

Under the constitution the reasons claimed for declaring martial law is unlawful. The evidence gathered can be inadmissible and can be counted as void. The imminent rebellion is not enough to declare martial law. Clearly Arroyo once again displayed her incompetence and lack of judgement for the Filipino people.

Unconfirmed reports through radio programs that most people in Maguindanao welcomed the martial law state. At least everybody is the same now, the bandits and abusive government officials are hiding under the tables. But, let us not forget the potential threat martial law can bring. There is a real threat in Maguindanao of rebellion and retaliation that could result to all out war. This is a very tough time for the Philippines, we will be measured by our actions and resolve to this matter.