‘I will not listen to others’: Duterte vows to ignore Supreme Court on declaring martial law
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has indicated he will ignore the Supreme Court and congress as he enforces martial law across the southern third of the country, despite the constitution giving them oversight.
Duterte last week imposed martial law in the Mindanao region, home to 20 million people, following deadly clashes in Marawi City involving militants he said were trying to establish a caliphate for Islamic State (IS).
“Until the police and the armed forces say the Philippines is safe, this martial law will continue. I will not listen to others. The Supreme Court, congress, they are not here,” Duterte told soldiers on Saturday. “Are they the ones dying and losing blood, bleeding, haemorrhaging because there is no help, no reinforcement? It’s not them.”
The 1987 constitution imposes limits on martial law to prevent a repeat of the abuses carried out under the regime of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was deposed by a revolution the previous year.
