Nacionalista Party (NP) presidential candidate Senator Manny Villar said Saturday that the lifting of martial law means that the administration has realized that it could always be able to stop lawless using civil authority, since it is part of its mandate.
 
At least that’s what the people expect from their elected leaders. The Filipino people deserve no less.

At the Liberal Party (LP), the Aquino-Roxas tandem said the Supreme Court and Congress must continue to examine and pass judgment on the controversial martial law declaration over Maguindanao in order to set the proper guidelines for the correct exercise of the President’s powers.

“By this action, President (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo has deprived Congress of its constitutional mandate to exercise oversight,’’ Senators Benigno Simeon ‘’Noynoy’’ Aquino III and Manuel ‘’Mar’’ A. Roxas II said of the sudden lifting by the President of her martial law fiat issued after the November 23 massacre of 57 persons, including media practitioners and some members of the Magadadatu family which is the political enemy of the ruling Ampatuan clan.

“Let us not be carried away by feelings of relief over the lifting of martial law,’’ Aquino and Roxas said. Aquino is the official LP)presidential bet while his running mate is Roxas, the grandson of the late President Manuel Roxas who founded the LP in the mid-40s.

Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, on the other hand, expressed elation over the lifting by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of the martial rule in Maguindanao.

“It allows our people to get back their civil liberties in the province of Maguindanao and allayed fears that martial law would be expanded,’’ Zubiri, a native of Bukidnon, Mindanao, said.

The President’s sudden decision shot down the idea that martial rule would spread to other areas, he said.

“After extensive search and apprehension of those guilty in the Maguindanao massacre, it seems martial rule is no longer necessary,’’ Zubiri said, in apparent reference to the arrest of key members of the Ampatuan clan linked to the massacre of 57 persons.

The Ampatuans and the Magadadatu families are tribal enemies for political hold over Maguindanao, one of the depressed provinces in Mindanao but is littered with palatial homes of the Ampatuans.

“We from Mindanao appreciate that she (President Arroyo) shortened martial rule in one of the areas of the island of Mindanao. I hope that in the future we will never have to see martial law enforced anywhere in the country,’’ he said.

Adminsitration Sen. Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. said “Finally, civilian rule and the rule of law will reign supreme again in that part of the country.’’