MANILA – On Tuesday, July 4, the Supreme Court voted, with one dissent, to uphold the constitutionality of President Duterte’s 60-day martial law proclamation in Mindanao. Associate Justice Bienvenido Reyes was one of 11 who voted to uphold it completely.
Here’s how the SC Public Information Office summarized his opinion:
1. The test for determining the sufficiency of factual basis is arbitrariness, i.e., not whether the President is correct but whether in declaring martial law and suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus did or did not act arbitrarily. The burden of proof is on the petitioners to show that there was no sufficient factual basis for the President’s actions.
2. The petitioners failed to show that the President had insufficient factual basis in his proclamation of martial law and his suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus. Petitioners rely on newspaper accounts which are hearsay.
3. On the other hand, respondents have shown that there was sufficient factual basis for the President’s actions to declare martial law and suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus through the various violent acts detailed in the President’s Report to Congress and the statements of the respondents.
Below, full text of his opinion:
