SUSPEND ONEROUS CHINESE CONTRACTS, NOT HABEAS CORPUS; ARREST CHINESE ENCROACHERS, NOT FILIPINOS

*Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on President Duterte's threat to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus

President Rodrigo Duterte's statement that he will suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus and declare "revolutionary war" against his critics and political dissidents is not only a cause for alarm, it is also shameful. In the middle of China's massive, illegal and deep incursion into our territories and our very own workplaces, President Duterte would rather pick on his own people than confront the country's real invader. Instead of standing up to China's aggression, President Duterte threatens his own people with warrantless arrests and war.

Anak ng tokwa! Imbes na magalit sa bansang Tsina, ang pinagdidiskitahan ng Pangulo ay tayong maliliit na Pilipino.

What should be suspended are not the people's civil liberties but the onerous contracts entered into by President Duterte with the Chinese government. Those who should be arrested are not our countrymen and women but foreign encroachers who illegally occupy our territories, threaten our small fisherfolk, smuggle illegal drugs and rob our workers of their jobs.