Life as usual with emergency declaration

SO WE are under a state of lawlessness or state of emergency.

Whichever it is, or however you call it, are we supposed to be scared or to panic? Even if the emergency declaration covers Metro Manila, I can’t sense any tension around, so what is there to worry about President Duterte’s move to make everyone safe from terrorists?

Nobody is knocking on doors house-to-house to check for bombs or weapons or arrest anyone without a warrant. No one is getting frisked in the street, except, of course, if an arrest is in progress. Police checkpoints are usual during election season, and their return off election season has not kept the public, including train commuters and mall shoppers, from their day-to-day fare.

Some people think it’s a bad idea for the President to declare an emergency and call on the military to join forces with the police to unmask terrorists who may be lurking in our midst. Many politicians sound alarmed at the declaration. Instead of being concerned over the threat posed by terrorists and taking precautions, they complain as if the emergency is more life-threatening than an improvised explosive device going off in a crowded place.

Some lawmakers are wary of the state of emergency, speculating that it’s a prelude to martial rule. When then President Gloria Arroyo declared an emergency in Maguindanao, did martial law follow as an inevitable consequence?

Not every leader is going to be a tyrant just because there was once a dictator. Don’t look at President Duterte as the enemy. He is not the enemy, it is the violent extremists.

The Philippines is not like war-torn Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan where battalions of soldiers have been deployed to police entire neighborhoods. We don’t have rocket-shooting rebels that Yemen and Libya have. So there’s no need to position tanks and artilleries in strategic places. We have a different emergency situation and Mr. Duterte is addressing ours in the manner appropriate to the situation—not so strong as to curtail our freedom but not too lenient either as to allow terrorists to spread mayhem wherever they please. We can still enjoy life in this state of emergency like we did before its declaration.

—CHRISTOPHER SENAGAN, [email protected]