Last I checked, only two presidents have ever had the gall to declare it and both were vilified in our history -- Ferdinand (FM onwards) and Gloria (GMA onwards). Well, that's until Duterte (PDU30 onwards) dared to become a President with no comparison and declared a limited yet encompassing Martial Law declaration (over the entire island of Mindanao) as recent as Wednesday May 24, 2017.
It's so fresh off the press I wonder why some people have already created negative responses about it.
Courtesy: GMA Network
Are these patterned thoughts? Canned responses? Taught anxiety? Legit concerns? Inner self truths? First hand experience dilemma?
Regardless, howling after any new policy even before it sinks or rise on its own merit is utter foolishness. And don't get me started with ML (ML onwards) not being a new policy at all because of the FM and GMA template. There is insurgency in Mindanao in a scale not even Marcos or Gloria could imagine (one GMA couldn't even solve in 10 long years!) yet you compare templates as if they'll stand the test of time in a country whose politics and local affairs has changed every so often (most recently, with a win by a populist leader).
GET OFF of your high horse! We are meant to learn from history, not to get stuck in it!
And that's just the first of the anti-ML peeps rhetoric or pro-ML thinking that anti-ML exploits to the hilt. I would aim to discuss these and offer some form of enlightenment.
Safe in Mindanao because of ML?
Probably in Davao. As admirable as that statement is, that's not the entire truth at all considering Davao is but a tiny speck in the whole of the southern island. The Duterte's made it so it's safe despite all the evil surrounding it from all corners. This doesn't mean we're free from them. The most recent terrorist incident happened just last year bombing civilians in Roxas Avenue!
If you're from Davao you can attest to these. If you're from outside Davao but within Mindanao, you know it's difficult to understand how the insurgency just can't get contained (It even got to Bohol just this year!) after all the fighting.
But evangelizing ML equals safety after just a few days it was declared is a complete misunderstanding of how things work under ML. It's not an overnight magic pill that solves every deeply rooted problem the island has endured for decades. Don't let your bias over the current administration turn you into a mindless being that anti-ML folks would use to further justify how evil the current admin is for taking it way overboard and not just declaring ML in Marawi.
And if the entirety of Mindanao is safe, why would there even be this fighting? There wouldn't be a need for ML at all if the entirety of Mindanao was safe in the first place. Also please remember that if you're from Mindanao and currently lives here, your perspective on safety of Mindanao is relevant to your locality (even if you're well traveled bias forms from your own home base and it will show up!). What's true in CDO may not be the same for people in North Cotabato or Cotabato City whose citizens suffered a lot from insurgent group actions like bombings.
I'm not saying Mindanao is such a bad place to go to. I wouldn't stay here if it was! Terrorists and other anti-establishment militias were once confined somewhere in ARMM or some other parts that are far flung but now you see them going out and about. Thus the feeling of safety is hypocrisy or perhaps ignorance on your part. Just because you're experiencing relative safety where you are does not mean it's the same for everyone in Mindanao or the Philippines.
Anti-ML because it's too overboard
PDU30 has declared a state of lawlessness last year following the Davao bombing. As far as I can remember, this was never lifted even after ML was declared. What is state of lawlessness? No one questioned it because it's not as dreary as ML!
But given that security has tightened up after this state of lawless violence and it still hasn't stopped the terrorist groups spreading even in Visayas makes it all the more reasonable for ML to be declared in Mindanao and not just in Marawi. I'm no security expert but that makes sense. The entirety of Mindanao can be traveled by land if you're brave enough. If the waters separating Mindanao and Visayas has not stopped Maute or Abu's then what's stopping them from taking over the entire southern island?
I believe Duterte's hands are tied on this one. Not declaring ML could spell more danger to innocent civilians in nearby places.
I heard some reports that it was a failure on our military's part for not capturing or killing a top ASG commander that it became a hell hole in Marawi now but that does not justify why ML should not be for the entire Mindanao. It's not overboard, it's safety precautions!
NO TO ML just because
In the bunch, these are the people I hate most. They should have known better but they choose to propagate criticisms just for the sake of criticizing. We have a politically correct term for them: contrarians. I prefer to call them as they are: intellectual assholes because what use does sugar coating serve when you are faced with vileness in its purest form?
Intellectual assholes post criticisms just because they can and not in any way to help the current admin stop what's bad according to their analysis. Not all of the time, these bastards are right but they deserve some merit for critical analysis. What they don't deserve is your attention because they live on that. They see all that's wrong in the system but won't do anything about it OR even include ways to solve it in their "very critical" analysis.
We all have friends like this. Nothing saves these bunch except renewal in ways and means. It's one thing to criticize but if these is all you do on your spare time, please have a life! You're actually part of the problem if you aren't complying or helping solve it. What's IQ with no EQ?
Loving ML because Duterte
Don't get me wrong, I'm pro-DU30 but that wouldn't stop me commenting on things that are bad. So for the record, you don't need to love ML because Duterte said so or it's because he is the one declaring it.
Anti-MLs are saying they can't fathom how dutertards are loving every minute of this version of ML because their lord Digong said so. The declaration itself is not laudable but only until we see how it works out in the weeks and months to come, can we objectively decide it was the best course of action to take as only the future can tell by the results.
Don't love the fact that everything is good because Duterte said so. ML is here because there's a threat and that is not something to celebrate about!
Anti-ML folks would even bring up a point that believing this version of ML is different only rests on your belief that Duterte would be different because you patronize him as a god. Welp that's intellectual asshole-ism at work for you!
Remember, the sitting pres won in a populist platform to bring about change. What was he aiming to change? The establishment that has forgotten about even the simplest of basic welfare like hastening red tape or completely deleting it from the system! These rhetoric plus safety is what hoisted him up in Malacanang. What intellectual assholes forget to tell you when they do their preaching is that if these bureaucratic and current government systems were already great there wouldn't be any need for a Duterte in the first place. Now you wonder what Noynoy, Gloria, Erap, FVR and Cory did that made us look for a Duterte? Mostly short-term change that did not solve the evils of government.
We voted for that man in there to at least start the process of combating the decay that has been our local government. I too am hoping that I get to see this institutional changes in my lifetime that after his term, we wouldn't anymore need another Duterte for another overhaul because we're already running at an optimal state balancing all of its stakeholder's interests. Anyone can dream!
And yes, rallying behind Duterte right now may sound wrong for these assholes but what choice have we got? Our system is not yet ripe for us to not rely on a central figure for his political whiz and charisma. If only past presidents ensured that the future didn't look so bleak then these assholes wouldn't have anything to put sour grapes on. Pity!
ML is bad because Marcos
Our lolos, lolas and some other relatives of old may have experienced how life was under Martial Law. Not all of them may have had the same bad experience but for those who had experienced how ML was during this time has all the right reasons to believe ML only brings about bad things.
After all, ML is essentially our military taking over the reins of command and the last buck stops at the civilian commander in chief, currently PDU30. FM's ML has shown us that abuses in power did happen and we can't invalidate that for people who have experienced it first hand. But Duterte is no Marcos no matter how much you think he kisses their asses in recent events (most relatively: Heroes' burial).
But again we're made to learn from these historical lessons and not get stuck in it. Abuses will only happen if we let them! Has our current constitution not laid any safety checks so any new ML version won't produce the same culprits? Then Cory failed!
Although in argument, these checks and balances may only sound good in theory or paper as what the constitution provides, it's what's happening on the ground that's unstable. I'm not deaf to reports of military abuses of power even when there's no ML declaration and it's quite disturbing that even the straight path administration before Duterte has some of its military leaders committing those crimes.
What difference does it make under the current administration? Probably not much as I told you there's no magic pill to cure illnesses of our society just because a new leadership comes in but as always, everything comes healing in due time. The current chief is reasonable and operates in the same manner as many are in the left -- all for the common good and the plight of common folks.
Whoever thought Duterte would give in to Kadamay's housing problem of recent? The previous admin may have fumigated these folks to death. But not under Duterte's watch. Our current pres has made it so that he may be incomparable to any pres before him and since day 1 he has proven this day in and out. What matters most now is the actual safeguards on the ground and if they would obey their commander in chief's mindset focusing on the people first. After all, our military should be serving country and people first. For now, staying vigilant and trusting of our military forces to do good while protecting us is of utmost importance. Terrorists would want to bring internal strife in every Filipino's mind and hearts and letting them succeed by us going against the institution and our own AFP is a triumph for the terrorists.
In the end, our legislative branch has not even decided upon the legality of the declaration yet because it's still so new! Bashing it now while it's still being decided by the correct fora does not make sense at all. If the congress decides to revoke it then no more ML but if it does (remember DU30's party controls majority) please just stop being intellectual assholes and tell us about your criticisms with alternative means to solve the insurgency otherwise you don't deserve to be heard. If it makes sense, we can always be rational.
Until then, chill and let the current version of Mindanao ML stand or fall on its own merit.
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