President Rodrigo Duterte's stance on declaring martial law in the country is a "menacing pendulum," two lawmakers said Monday.

Speaking with Mornings@ANC, Albay Representative Edcel Lagman pointed out that the maverick leader had spoken in different fora different opinions on the institution of martial rule in the country.

"I think that the President’s stress to declare martial law is a menacing pendulum. On one hand, he would say that he's not going to declare martial law and it is stupid to declare martial law," said Lagman in an interview with Mornings@ANC on Monday.

"Then, he would announce that he wants the restrictive provisions of the Constitution on the declaration of martial law to be removed, more particularly, the oversight function of Congress and of the Supreme Court," he added.

Senator Bam Aquino, for his part, agreed with Lagman's description of Duterte's stance on the declaration of martial law, that it's changing, adding that the President is "vacillating on the topic."

He added these statements, when taken with the administration's image of being strong-willed, can indeed point to thoughts of authoritarianism.

"The image of this administration, with the strong, iron hand, very fierce, very harsh, it does lead to those thoughts of martial law and authoritarianism," he said in an interview with ANC's Headstart.

Aquino is the nephew of late Senator Ninoy Aquino Jr., a staunch critic of former President Ferdinand Marcos, who placed the country under martial rule from 1972 to 1981.

Duterte on Saturday warned he would disregard the Supreme Court and place the country under martial rule if the drug problem worsened into something "virulent."

• READ: Martial law possible to fight illegal drugs, Duterte reiterates

The media reportage of Duterte's statement bristled Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, who called it "misreporting," underlining that Duterte had been clear in his statement that he would only declare martial law if "the country has deteriorated into an utter state of rebellion and lawlessness."

"Such headlines sow panic and confusion to many. We consider this kind of reportage as the height of journalistic irresponsibility," said Andanar.

Lagman, however, asserted that the media's reporting of Duterte's recent statement was "accurate" and that what was reported and quoted was "exactly what he said."

Aquino, on the other hand, said it is now "very hard to react" to Duterte's actual stance on the declaration of martial law because anyone can now just cite any of his speeches, where in one he may have expressed support of it and disdain for it in another.

He said he would instead highlight that a survey by Pulse Asia released last week showed that majority of Filipinos disagree that martial law is needed to solve the country's problems.

• READ: 74 pct of Pinoys see no need for Martial Law - Pulse

He said, these figures are indicative of the Filipino public's desire for new solutions to a broader scope of problems other than drugs and peace and order, to which the Duterte administration has given focus on.

"There are problems there that are matindi rin o mas matindi pa. And ang mga Pinoy, when they said ‘ayaw na naming ng martial law, what that means to me is that people are looking for new solutions. They’re saying, ‘hindi ito ang sagot sa lahat ng mga problema natin—na kapag nagkaka-gulo, magma-martial law tayo.’ It’s not the solution that the Filipinos are looking for," he said.

Aquino added that as public servants in the government, it is their job to provide these solutions that the public is seeking.