IN my midweek article, I wrote about Fil-Ams who support President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao. I shared with you the letter of support written by US Pinoys for Real Change in the Philippines, penned by its Chair, Atty. Arnedo Valera a— Fil-Am community leader from Washington DC who is also a human, immigrant rights advocate and international law specialist.
I recently interviewed Valera on The Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” where he called for the Fil-Ams’ trust and support for Duterte amid fears associated with the stigma of the Marcos-era rule.
He contended that all Duterte wanted to do is to protect the Philippines from the threat of ISIS, especially the young kids now being targeted by the terrorist group.
According to Valera:
“Ang very alarming and scary is the radicalization of children and forced recruitment of child soldiers.
I mean tatlong problem iyan:
1. If the troops kill them they get accused of being child killers.
2. It means cops and troops have the emotional stress of not knowing even women and children are being used as shells or weapons there have been several reports of Maute leaving a crying child screaming in a area – so troops go in or civilians only to be hit by snipers.
3. Those kids will be next generation of fighters. If killed, they become symbols as martyrs or used falsely as victims. This is clearly a new style of terror not seen locally before.”
Valera explained that Duterte is adhering to and respecting the safeguards stipulated in the 1987 Philippine Constitution to make sure executive power will not be abused when Martial Law would have to declared again for urgent reasons — time limits, no automatic suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, no arbitrary arrests, all other arm of government still functioning, liberties still intact, etc.
Do you trust and support President Rodrigo Duterte in his declaration of martial law??
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Gel Santos Relos is the anchor of TFC’s “Balitang America.” Views and opinions expressed by the author in this column are solely those of the author and not of Asian Journal and ABS-CBN-TFC. For comments, go to www.TheFil-AmPerspective.com, https://www.facebook.com/Gel.Santos.Relos
