The Arroyo government appears to be using martial law to provide a good number of chances for the mass murderers behind the Maguindanao massacre to go scot-free and evade their accountability under the law.

In a petition we filed today before the Supreme Court, we asked the tribunal to nullify Proclamation No. 1959 not only because it is patently unconstitutional. We told the magistrates that it has plenty of adverse effects on the cause of bringing the perpetrators of the November 23 massacre before the bar of justice.

Those arrested under martial law can only be charged with the crime of rebellion. In the case of the Ampatuans and their cabal, the charges of multiple murder which they totally deserve, would have to be subsumed by the charge of rebellion because there is no crime of rebellion complex with murder in Philippine law.

How the Ampatuans became rebels is a mystery only the Arroyo administration can explain. What is clear is that the Ampatuans are being given ample chances to evade prosecution for the massacre. If the government fails to charge within days of their arrest under martial law, they can walk away. If the government charges them with rebellion, they can apply for bail. Murder, especially multiple murder, meanwhile is a non-bailable offense.

It is also infinitely more difficult to prove that the Ampatuans committed rebellion. First, it is doubtful that the Arroyo government has the goods against the Ampatuans, that these warlords actually took up arms and called for the overthrow of the Arroyo government. It is good to point out at this juncture that Philippine governments have not successfully prosecuted rebellion cases against the real rebels – the communists and the Moro separatists – because the charge is really hard to prove. The dictator Ferdinand Marcos had all the resources under his disposal but no rebellion or sedition charge prospered in civilian courts. He had to resort to military kangaroo courts which tried the likes of Ninoy Aquino and Jose Maria Sison. In the end, the rebellion and sedition charges failed.

But in the case of Ampatuans, it is an insult to the public for the Arroyo government to now label the Maguindanao warlords as rebels. The arms caches discovered by soldiers all came from the government. Days after the massacre, the deputy presidential spokesperson bragged that the massacre did not affect the friendship and goodwill between between the President and the Ampatuans. The people are not stupid. Arroyo and the Ampatuans are best friends forever.

If the martial law proclamation goes unchallenged, Filipinos lose several things. One, we lose the chance to prosecute one of the worst warlord families and allies of President Arroyo who implicated themselves in the most brutal mass murder in recent history. That is unacceptable. Two, we open ourselves to an expanded martial law beyond the borders of Maguindanao. The latter is already being tried and tested with the arrest of Andal Ampatuan Sr. in Davao City, in the call by a military official for the extension of martial law beyond Maguindanao, and the Philippine National Police announcement that Metro Manila has been placed on blue alert because Ampatuan supporters have supposedly arrived in Metro Manila. Third, if elections push through under a state of martial law, we can say goodbye to our aspiration to an opposition win in 2010 and the immediate prosecution of President Arroyo as soon as she loses the presidency. Fourth, we may not have elections at all.

With Congress dragging its feet and the Supreme Court needing sufficient time before arriving at a decision, it is incumbent on Filipinos to come out, stand up, reconvene the parliament of the streets and deliver the message which some people appear to have forgotten: Never again to martial law!