216 on May 23, 2017, placing the entire island of Mindanao under martial law to allow the military to crush a terrorist siege of Marawi City. “The Supreme Court has once again stretched the boundaries of judicial interpretation by upholding Congress’ approval of President Duterte’s extension of martial law in Mindanao. It paves the way for imposing martial law nationwide even if there is no threat to public safety,” said Neri Colmenares, chair of Bayan Muna. “Instead of being a vanguard of justice and rationality, the Supreme Court has shown otherwise.”ACT said the Supreme Court had no basis to declare the third extension constitutional. “[Martial law] has and will continue to greatly help our counterterrorism [operations] and fight against rebellious forces in Mindanao,” Lorenzana said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer February 19, 2019 23:15 UTC