The writ of habeas corpus literally means an order to “produce the body” or to deliver an imprisoned individual to a court.
President Rodrigo Duterte warned that he would suspend the writ of habeas corpus in order to strengthen the anti-drug campaign of his administration and to suppress “rebellion” in the area of Mindanao.
The writ of habeas corpus literally means an order to “produce the body” or to deliver an imprisoned individual to a court of law.
According to President Duterte, he wanted to take all the drug pushers off the streets and have the last drug lord killed during his term as the 16th President of the Philippines.
In a speech on Friday night during the launching of the Pilipinong May Puso Foundation, Inc. on Davao City, Duterte was quoted saying: “If you don’t give me a choice, and then you box me in a corner and I find my self helpless. Those are really provisions intended to protect the Republic of the Philippines”.
The launching of the foundation was to mark the 100th birth anniversary of the President’s mother, Soledad.
According to Duterte, the suspension of the writ of Habeas Corpus would be in response to the continuing rebellion “being waged now in Mindanao”, and although he did not elaborate but he mentioned in passing the Maute Gang, an Islamist armed group, as one of those sowing trouble in the southernmost Philippines.
The Maute Gang is composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerillas and some foreign fighters led by Abdullah Maute, said to be the founder of Dawlah Islamiya, or Islamic state based in Lanao del Sur.
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Even before Pareng Digong uttered the possibility of suspending the writ of habeas corpus (on Nov 11), Senator Richard Gordon had already filed a bill in the Senate (on Sept 8) to allow the President to exercise this option in view and in anticipation of the humongous problem being faced by government of arresting (literally) thousands of drug addicts, pushers, coddlers and protectors, corrupt government officials and judges, terrorists as well as common criminals.
In other words, it may be argued that both the Executive and Legislative branches of government see the need and the urgency of suspending the writ in order to nip this seemingly insurmountable problem in the bud. Of course, we can expect vociferous objections from characters like DeLi b0G, Bab0y DriL0n, KiK0, Nin0y Makeover, and the usual loudmouths in the Lower House, but eventually the matter will be put to a vote.