Majority of the senators have voted in favor of President Rodrigo Duterte’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao until December 2018.
According to Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel II, 14 senators voted in the affirmative, 4 in the negative and no one abstained.
This are the list:
IN FAVOR:
- Senate President Aquilino Pimentel.
- Sonny Angara
- JV Ejercito
- Sherwin Gatchalian
- Richard Gordon
- Gringo Honasan
- Panfilo Lacson
- Loren Legarda
- Grace Poe
- Ralph Recto
- Vicente Sotto III
- Joel Villanueva
- Miguel Zubiri
- Nancy Binay
AGAINST:
- Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon
- Risa Hontiveros
- Francis Pangilinan
- Bam Aquino
All the senators who voted against the extension of martial law were all belong to the Senate minority bloc who questioned the request of the President.
Senators Francis Escudero and Cynthia Villar were present during the special joint session, but were not able to cast their votes.
Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Manny Pacquiao were absent during the proceeding.
The martial law extension were also favored by 226 members of the House of the Representatives while 23 expressed their opposition on it.
In the letter addressed to the Congress, President Rodrigo Duterte explained that the extenstion of Martial Law is needed because of the continuing threats of the extremists and the New People’s Army.
Meanwhile, Senator Drilon questioned why NPA became the reason why President Duterte wanted to extend the martial law in Mindanao.
He was worried that the one year extension of martial law in Mindanao would be a prelude to a nationwide martial law.
“If we were to believe that the government is intent on ending the war against the NPA, which operates not only in Mindanao but all over the country, then it is entirely possible that their operations would have to be extended beyond Mindanao to meet that objective,” Drilon said.
Sen. Kiko Pangilinan also believed that there’s no actual rebellion happening in the country right now.
Meanwhile, Kasug Tausug party-list representative Shernee Tan suggested a nationwide martial law because of the threat posed by the terrorist group New People’s Army.
“Mr. Speaker, there are still NPA (New People’s Army), and they could also make a tax in Luzon and Visayas, therefore, as representative of Kusug Tausug party-list, I reiterate my stand that martial law should be extended not just in Mindanao but also in Luzon and in Visayas if it serves to the best interest of our nation,” Tan said.
But Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assured that the threat of the NPA-CPP in Luzon and Visayas are ‘manageable’ so a nationwide martial law is not yet needed.
