Morning.

Pls tell all educ 13 students to make a 1- 2 page argumentative paper on the martial law forum with this
guide question:
How does the declaration of martial law in mindanao affect the government's duty to provide quality education?
What should be done to still give quality learning despite the situation?
Philippine President
How should you respond to the condition of the affected stakeholders if education? -
Rodrigo Duterte has imposed martial law in Mindanao to combat militants who have
declared allegiance to the Islamic State group.
Here is what we know about why he declared martial law and what happens next:
What happened to trigger martial law?
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Duterte acted after security forces on Tuesday battled dozens of gunmen in Marawi, a
city of about 200,000 people. One policeman and two soldiers died in the fighting,
authorities said.
Tuesday’s violence was the latest in a series of deadly clashes with militants who have
pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group, and are based throughout
Mindanao.
READ: Martial law declared in Mindanao; Duterte to fly back home from
Moscow
Duterte’s declaration fulfilled an often-repeated promise to impose martial law to
combat the IS-linked militants, whom he has said are a growing threat to national
security.
But he has said many times that martial law may be needed to solve many other
problems, including illegal drugs.
Who are the militants?
Authorities said they were battling members of two of the best-known groups to have
declared allegiance to IS, the Abu Sayyaf and Maute organizations.
The military said it was hunting Isnilon Hapilon, an Abu Sayyaf leader who has been
named the Philippine head of IS. The US government is offering a $5-million bounty
for his capture.
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READ: Soldier killed, 8 others wounded in clashes with Abus, Maute in Marawi
The Abu Sayyaf is infamous for kidnapping foreigners and killing them if ransoms are
not paid. It is also blamed for the nation’s worst terror attacks, including the 2004
bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay that claimed more than 100 lives.
The Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said last year that
deepening cooperation among the Maute gang, the Abu Sayyaf and other pro-IS
groups meant more deadly violence was “a matter of when, not if”.
Is martial law necessary?
Duterte had repeatedly said the growing influence of Islamic State was one of the
nation’s top security concerns, and martial law was necessary to stop it.
However Islamist militancy is not new to the southern Philippines, where a decades-
long Muslim separatist insurgency claimed more than 120,000 lives.
Muslim rebels orchestrated a siege in the southern city of Zamboanga in 2013 that left
more than 200 people dead, but the government of then-president Benigno Aquino did
not declare martial law.
Aquino also said he had considered imposing martial law just before standing down
last year in Sulu, island strongholds of the Abu Sayyaf in the far south of Mindanao.
But Aquino said he decided against it partly because military rule could spark
resentment among local people.
What will happen under martial law?
Martial law allows the president to “call out the armed forces to prevent or suppress
lawless violence, invasion or rebellion”, according to the constitution.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said security forces would be able to arrest
suspected militants and hold them for three days without charge.
Critics fear martial law will give security forces cover to carry out human rights
abuses, citing the experience under dictator Ferdinand Marcos a generation ago.
During the nine years of martial law under Marcos, police and troops tortured,
abducted and killed thousands of people who were critical of the dictatorship,
according to rights groups and historians.
Duterte said Wednesday his version of martial law would be “harsh” and similar to
that under Marcos.
READ: Mindanao martial law to be ‘as harsh’ as that of Marcos — Duterte
What happens next?
The constitution limits martial law to 60 days unless congress agrees to extend it.
Duterte warned Wednesday it could last for a year.
The post-Marcos constitution imposed safeguards on martial law, including the
requirement for congress to approve its imposition and extension. The Supreme Court
can also rule on its legality.
However Duterte said in January he would ignore the constitutional safeguards if
necessary, and may impose martial law across the nation.
“I don’t care about the Supreme Court… because the right to preserve one’s life and
my nation, my country transcends everything else,” he said.

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know#ixzz4nrX9IQp3
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MANILA, Philippines — The declaration of martial law over Mindanao has raised concerns of potential
human rights violations under an administration that has been at times hostile to the idea of upholding
basic rights for suspects.
Emmanuel Amistad, executive director of Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, said in a statement
that the group is "deeply concerned" with the declaration on Tuesday night, which it warned could be "a
slippery slope and will be at the expense of human rights, justice and peace."

TDFP, which called on President Rodrigo Duterte to take back the declaration, pointed out that a
proclamation in September 2016 declaring a state of national emergency is still in place.

The declaration of a national emergency was done in response to a bomb attack on a Davao City night
market.

"Is the Duterte administration admitting that it is powerless to curtail and contain lawless elements without
special powers such as martial law? Is not the response too heavy-handed to handle the Maute group?"
TDFP said.

The Maute group, a terror group inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, clashed with security
forces in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur on Tuesday afternoon. The security operation against Abu Sayyaf
leader Isnilon Hapilon, who was believed to be linking up with Maute, resulted in fires and sporadic
fighting across the city.

The government has been saying since Tuesday that it is in control of the situation and the armed forces
Western Mindanao said Tuesday night that it was only conducting mopping up operations in the city.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Tuesday night that martial law may entail the imposition of
curfews, the setting up of checkpoints and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus.

A copy of the martial law proclamation has yet to be released.

'Martial law will aggravate insecurity'

Rights group Karapatan, in its own release, said it strongly protests the declaration, saying "it will not
address the circumstances of the current situation in Marawi, but will aggravate the insecurity in the
area."

It warned that martial law "will never result to anything but gross violations of people's rights." It said that
while it condemns attacks by the Maute group and is calling for an investigation, martial law is an uncalled
for response.

"Martial Law will inevitably result in intensified military operations, including aerial strikes, which can kill
and affect hundreds of civilians, and to an open season for extrajudicial killings, illegal arrests, torture and
other forms of rights violations," Karapatan said.

Mags Maglana of Konsyensya Dabaw, meanwhile, said that "while the safety of civilians in Marawi and
adjacent areas needs to be ensured, and the problems of lawlessness and ‘violent extremism’ have to be
addressed, the declaration of martial law for the whole of Mindanao is unwarranted."

Konsensya Dabaw said that "with past experiences of large-scale repression against Mindanawons, and
so much at stake in Mindanao’s present and future, we cannot be trusting and naively believe that martial
law under President Duterte would be a better experience."

Duterte, in a video message on Tuesday morning, said that martial law in Mindanao "will not be any
different from what the president, Marcos, did." Martial law in Mindanao under Marcos saw massacres in
villages and large-scale military operations in areas like Jolo in Sulu.

Duterte, who has launched expletive-laden tirades against human rights advocates and has threatened to
behead them, has said that he would be harsh.
Mindanao-based advocacy group Suara Bangsamoro likewise condemned the martial law declaration.
The group said militarizing the entire region will not help solve the decades-old problem in the south such
as landlessness and poverty.

“Suara Bangsamoro believes that urban militarization and aerial bombings will worsen the security crisis
in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. The group fears that civilian lives and livelihood will become collateral
damage to a problem that is deeply rooted in landlessness and the Moro’s right to self-determination,” the
group said in a statement.

Suara Bangsamoro spokesman Jerome Succor Aba said the Duterte administration must address the
peace instability “through talks and diplomatic means.”

AFP vows 'martial law without abuse'

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, Col. Edgard Arevalo of the military' public affairs office, has assured
the public that the imposition of martial law will be done according to the law and with respect for human
rights.

"We will do this without abuse, we will do this in consonance with existing laws," he said Wednesday. He
said that only terrorists groups and sympathizers have anything to fear from martial law, a common
response to similar rights concerns over the government's war on drugs.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has been critical of the drug war, urged the government "to
ensure that the rights of all Filipinos are respected as it addresses violence and crime in the southern
Philippines."

Phil Robertson, HRW Asia Division deputy director, said "the Philippine Constitution contains guarantees
for the protection of human rights and civil liberties during martial rule. We call upon the administration —
as well as the Congress and the courts – to ensure that these important protections remain in force."

The ruling PDP-Laban, which effectively controls both the Senate and the House of Representatives, on
Wednesday declared support for the declaration of martial law in Mindanao.

"We believe that a temporary state of martial law, used properly, can be an effective tool to achieve the
peace and development in Mindanao that our party has fought for throughout our existence," PDP-Laban,
which includes in its ranks Marcos critic and martial law victim former Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., said.

"Terrorism is the enemy of peace and progress. It is the enemy of PDP-Laban and the entire Filipino
people," the party declared.

While the president has the power to declare martial law under certain conditions, Congress can vote to
reject the declaration.

Peace Must Be Waged and Won

But there is always a high price to pay for peace. Mahatma Gandhi, Anwar Sadat Yitzhak Rabin,
Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln who all paid with their lives by assassination. Others
experienced sufferings like Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his dream of a united Pakistan. Nelson
Mandela endured 27 years of imprisonment.
What peace processes teach us is that peace agreements require a marathon mentality and are not
the end of one journey but the beginning of another. To move on, mistrust must be overcome and
prejudices borne of past wrongs set aside . This is admittedly very difficult to ask, especially from
those whose personal loss is irreplaceable, as in the case not only of those who died in
Mamasapano but of other killings and brutalities committed by both sides as cited by the CHR in
2000, the military in the aftermath of Mamasapano and the MILF.
Our Muslim brothers and sisters are giving up their dream of an independent state. The MILF is
staking its political future on the creation and success of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. We,
the Christian majority, have to share powers we have monopolized for centuries. We have to shed
prejudices that have stood in the way of our humanity. But there are still people among us who are
convinced that the price of peace is more war, at the heart of which is a total distrust of the MILF.
And so we hope that if the BBL is allowed to reach the plebiscite stage and wins a convincing
majority of the sovereign vote, those with the deepest reservations will give it a chance, as “all life is
an experiment”, and those, if any, with a jihadist mentality within the MILF ranks also experience a
change of heart because of the way we respect the fullness of their being, and also give it a chance
to succeed.
Hopefully, Pope Francis points the way. In his recent visit, in response to the question of a 12-year
old girl from the streets of Manila: “Why did God let this happen to us?” Pope Francis reminded us
that we see best with “new eyes cleansed by tears”.
We have been blessed as a people in countless ways. This is our moment of grace – Kairos – as we
give thanks for all those blessings with eyes filled with tears and pray to our God of history to please
grant us peace. —- END
—
Education Secretary Leonor Briones: 'Schools should not be made as battlegrounds between
and among contending parties engaged in violence, with or without martial law'

The education department estimated that around 5,000 learners are affected by the
clashes between the military and the Maute terrorist group in Marawi City.

Education Secretary Leonor Briones said government troops are aware that they should
not "carry war into the schoolrooms."

"And schools don't take sides at all, as far as the children and teachers are concerned.
And we've had earlier debates of this, even before the Marawi crisis. And we always
emphasize this, and teachers always insist, if there are military people or other kinds of
armed groups who endeavor to enter schools, they are always requested politely to
please stay off and keep the schools peaceful," she explained.

Should there be violations of the principle that schools are zones of peace, Briones said
they can immediately inform the police and the military, who they are in touch with.

She also pleaded with "the other side" not to drag children into "this very violent and
difficult conflict."

"Schools should not be made as battlegrounds between and among contending parties
engaged in violence, with or without martial law," Briones added.
The proclamation of Martial Law doesn’t have direct effect on the government's duty to provide quality
education. maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education relevant to
the needs of the people and society
REFERENCES:

Monsod, C. (2015) Mindanao Forum on PEACE IN MINDANAO: Interreligious Council of the

Philippines

Monsod, T.(2015). Associate Professor, UPSE?Member, Human Development Network,

published in Philippine Daily Inquirer”s Talk of the Town,

Statement of the Framers of the 1987 Constitution, January 19, 2015

Agence France-Presse May 24, 2017

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/899173/martial-law-in-mindanao-what-we-know#ixzz4nrmtQfsV

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/05/24/1703185/martial-law-mindanao-raises-rights-
concerns