Proclamation 1017: A post-mortem

E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL

Proclamation 1017: A post-mortem
Sunday, 03 05, 2006

Four decades ago, the insidious executors of repression crept upon us and inexorably assumed control of our cherished freedoms, under Proclamation 1081. Thus began a regime where every citizen woke up each day with a heart laden with doubt, unsure whether his time has come at length to be gored by the swift sword of martial rule. The light of the whole life of our nation was extinguished during that long, dark night, until in 1986 the collective, tiny sparks of freedom nurtured in the hearts of a people, who would not stay forever bound and yoked into submission, burst into one shining moment of glory along Edsa.

Twenty years after that glorious return of the Rule of Law — ironically, on the eve of the date commemorating it — the ghastly specter of martial rule once again cast its dark shadow. Under an atmosphere aberrantly labeled as “state of national emergency,” Proclamation 1017 was issued by a President who has become fearfully paranoid about the terrible power of a steadily dissatisfied populace.

The tremors dissatisfaction have undoubtedly jarred a closed door within Malacañang, that President Gloria Arroyo last Friday hastily withdrew the instrument she employed in raping our Constitution. It was not even an act of coitus interruptus, as one wag gleefully put it, but a reluctant and panicked withdrawal, out of holy fear because the rapee was screaming bloody rape.

The lacerations our Constitution suffered under that brutal attack are still evident; it would take quite a time before they heal, if ever. And the victim — the collective Filipino people — will not forget the rapist. The victim will also remember that while the rape was in progress, police General Arturo Lomibao stood by as a lookout and enforcer. He was a principal, by his indispensable cooperation. He threatened media, broke up rallies, clamped down on the right to information, and implemented Proclamation 1017 without following any standards.

Proclamation 1017 had a questionable genesis. Disguised as a tool to save the economy under Article XII of the Constitution, it relied on the haughty assumption that the nation will unquestioningly swallow the Commander-in-Chief-provision in Article VII for its implementation. It is this Janus-faced, double-edged intent of the so-called state of national emergency that rent, lacerated and gashed the Constitution.

What is permissible arrest, search and seizure is pretty clear — even an ignoramus in the law should know. The raid by the CIDG on the premises of The Daily Tribune is a violation. The arrests effected on the marchers celebrating Edsa is a violation. The immunity of Ka Crispin Beltran was totally ignored.

Arroyo, upon whose orders Lomibao acted, is now maintaining the usual silence of the guilty. “Who, me? I know nothing! Ask Mike Defensor, he’s the wise guy who knows something about everything.” One would have expected Arroyo to react to the illegality of the arrests made, or offered explanations, however lame, why she hosed down Ninoy’s adherents at Ayala, nearly pummeled to death the many who massed at the gates of Fort Bonifacio, or prevented Cory Aquino from praying for deliverance in a chapel.

The uproar over The Daily Tribune raid would have merited a reaction from Arroyo. But nothing. Not even the usual boilerplate reply to a letter from Ann Cooper, the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists, who wrote to Arroyo: “These actions — combined with threats to take over media entities for “aiding” your administration’s enemies or violating unspecified editorial guidelines — send a profoundly disturbing message about the limits of press freedom. They also serve to prevent journalists from accurately reporting on the crisis in your country. Democracy in the Philippines has been threatened in the years since the 1986 revolution, but no administration has used the restrictive means your government has taken. It’s deeply disturbing to see political unrest threaten the precious and deeply held concepts of press freedom and democracy.”

Many of those critical of Arroyo could no longer write about the very damning evidence of lying, cheating and stealing, for fear that they might unnecessarily put in danger their publishers or suffer the same fate of Ike Señeres and Mentong Laurel.

Proclamation 1017 effectively trampled on our right to practice our profession in the manner and fashion we know best. Notwithstanding the staggering cache of evidence that fraud was committed in the May 2004 elections, disclosing them was a virtual impossibility, with the proclamation serving as a prior restraint. Any disclosure would have been construed as having the effect of sabotaging the people’s confidence in Arroyo.

Behind all these is the denial of our right to due process before our lives, liberties and properties could be taken away. Arroyo and Lomibao chose to ignore that altogether.

The lawyers’ march last Friday is a portent of things to come. Against the formidable phalanx of blue-uniformed men of Lomibao, the lawyers defied the no-rally policy on that sacred ground. The lawyers successfully reclaimed Edsa. How sweet it was!

Proclamation 1017 may have been withdrawn. But like the rapist who went through a panicked withdrawal, Arroyo is capable of repeating the rape of our Constitution, yet evading review, as she did twice before. The Supreme Court should finally take heed of the warning in that Dissent in Sanlakas v. Executive Secretary, 421 SCRA 690, that there must be a declaration (now) of unconstitutionality in order that we may not be haunted again by the same issue.

If you have read this far, it is not because of the benevolence of Lomibao. After all, Proclamation 1017 was an ill-conceived and hastily constructed legal scarecrow, designed to flap in the breeze to drive away threats where none exist. We at The Daily Tribune, like the lawyers, value the revered freedom of expression, and we have chosen to be brave.

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