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Martial end of the year 2017

On December 11, 2017, Duterte asked the Philippine Congress to extend the martial law that had been in force since the end of May over the entire south of the country for another year until the end of 2018. His request was granted just two days later: 226 members of the House of Representatives and 14 Senators nodded The president’s request without further ado, while the no-votes with 23 and four were miserable. “What we want is not unlimited martial law. What we are striving for is an unlimited peace,” stated Dutertes Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.

It is not just the legislature that Duterte knows firmly and firmly on his side. Efforts are under way to bring the judiciary – especially the Supreme Court – completely in line and to bring its chairman, the independent and contentious Maria Lourdes Sereno, down through impeachment. The respected columnist Solita Collas-Monsod closed her article published on December 16 in the Philippine Daily Inquirer with the pointed comment: “Be warned, dear readers. The death of our democracy is approaching. We are facing constitutional authoritarianism. Fight!” The Armed Forces (AFP) and National Police (PNP) are now upgraded and will receive a substantial pay increase from the New Year. As a pillar in the “anti-drug fight”

When he took office, the newly elected president had promised full-bodied not only to wage a “relentless war against drugs, crime and corruption”. As the “first socialist president” of the island republic, he will finally seal the long-awaited peace with the Muslim resistance in the south and the left-wing alliance of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which operates underground. Its members include the Communist Party (CPP) and its guerrilla organization, the New People’s Army (NPA), which have been fighting for a people’s democratic republic since the late 1960’s. Above all, the president wanted to bury the hatchet with the CPP founding chairman and today’s chief political advisor to the NDFP, José Maria Sison. Sison,

According to ezinereligion, after the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in February 1986, there were repeated attempts between the governments in Manila and the NDFP to de-escalate the armed conflict. During the tenure of President Fidel V. Ramos (1992-1998), groundbreaking agreements were even reached – including the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) and the Comprehensive Agreement for the Protection of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL). Since 2001, negotiations have taken place under the auspices of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry in Oslo, Rome and in the Dutch seaside resort of Nordwijk aan Zee in order to end one of the world’s longest-running armed conflicts. When the first round of negotiations during Duterte’s term of office opened in Oslo in August 2016, There was pure euphoria on both sides. This time, emphasized the government negotiators in Manila, the peace talks, which have ultimately been fruitless for decades, are taking place in a completely different environment. The new element is the Duterte presidency.

By the end of May 2017, the following key points were negotiated in four officially scheduled rounds: Confirmation of previous agreements; Recognition of accredited consultants; Accelerate talks on social, economic, political and constitutional reforms and end hostilities; Amnesty and release of all political prisoners and finally the modalities of an armistice with the final demobilization of the armed guerrilla units. The government unceremoniously canceled the fifth official round of talks, which had been announced in Nordwijk aan Zee at the end of May 2017.

Why this sudden U-turn? Even before key negotiating points were signed, the government delegation suddenly pushed for a bilateral ceasefire agreement that would apply for an indefinite period instead of the previously unilaterally declared ceasefire. Duterte accused the NPA of continuing to attack “his” soldiers. And on May 23, the president proclaimed martial law over the entire southern part of the country because armed elements of the jihadist Abu Sayyaf and Maute groups penetrated the city of Marawi in central Mindanao and fought fierce battles with government troops. It was not until October 23 that Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana officially announced the end of the fighting after the leaders of both groups, Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute, were killed. The city of Marawi, which once had a population of over 200,000, was completely destroyed and its residents were degraded to refugees overnight. In total there were well over a thousand deaths. Much to the chagrin of the civilian population, nothing significant has happened within three years, so that in summer 2020 the future of the city and its residents will be in the stars. Above all, the president was resented for not having said a word about the (re) construction plans for Marawi in his 5th speech to the nation at the end of July 2020. so that in summer 2020 the future of the city and its residents will be in the stars. Above all, the president was resented for not having said a word about the (re) construction plans for Marawi in his 5th speech to the nation at the end of July 2020. so that in summer 2020 the future of the city and its residents will be in the stars. Above all, the president was resented for not having said a word about the (re) construction plans for Marawi in his 5th speech to the nation at the end of July 2020.

It is noteworthy that the extension of martial law until the end of 2018, which was passed by a large majority in Congress on December 13, 2017, was justified by the “total elimination of IS-inspired or similar local and foreign terrorist groups and armed lawless groups, communist terrorists and their sympathizers, supporters and To ensure financiers. ” According to the current constitution of 1987, martial law can only be imposed in cases of actual invasion or rebellion. Duterte critics fear a nationwide expansion of martial law or the installation of a revolutionary government that would give the president unrestricted powers. Another scenario favored by the presidency provides

With his two proclamations 360 and 374, signed on November 23 and December 5, 2017, respectively, Duterte unceremoniously cut the tablecloth with the NDFP. With the first proclamation, he finally terminated all negotiations with the NDFP, while with the second it and its “sympathizers, supporters and financiers” were classified as “terrorist”. In two statements by Sisons, dated December 14 and 20, the NDFP’s chief political advisor fired full broadsides against Duterte as the “number one terrorist and butcher of the Filipino people”. Sison accused the President of over 14,000 mostly poor people as suspected drug addicts or small dealers through extrajudicial executions to have on his conscience and to use his counterinsurgency plan ” Oplan Kapayapaan ” (“Operation Plan Peace”) primarily to eliminate protest and resistance. Since then, numerous social activists – including farmers, fishermen, indigenous peoples as well as committed human rights activists, environmentalists and church people – have come under the crosshairs of “Oplan Kapayapaan”.