Davao City Mayor Sara
Duterte-Carpio has come out supporting her father President Rodrigo Duterte's
bid to extend martial law in the entire Mindanao.
"The city government of Davao has no opposition to martial law. We do not have any untoward experience under it," Duterte-Carpio said in the vernacular.
"We will defer to decision of the AFP and the Office of the President regarding the need to extend martial law because they have access to relevant information." *
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| (photo credit to owner) |
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has cited a lingering threat in Mindanao as well as the armed insurgency of the communist New People’s Army (NPA) as reasons for seeking the extension of martial law in the entire Mindanao for one more year.
In his Dec. 8 letter to Congress, the president cites that the extension of the martial law for another year will help the military and police deal with lawless armed groups better and ensure the safety of the public.
“A further extension of Martial Law and suspension of writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao will help the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), the Philippine National Police, and all other law enforcement agencies to quell completely and put an end to the ongoing rebellion in Mindanao and prevent the same from escalating to other parts of the country,” Duterte said in his letter.
“Public safety indubitably requires such further extension, not only for the sake of security and public order, but more importantly to enable the government and the people of Mindanao to pursue the bigger task of rehabilitation and the promotion of a stable socio-economic growth and development.”
The President said the defeat of the Islamic State-inspired Maute terrorists in the 5-month long Marawi siege did not necessarily spell the end to the terror threat in Mindanao, as remnants of the group and their supporters continued their recruitment and training of new members “to carry on the rebellion.” *
Task Force Davao, has stated that martial law would greatly help state forces deal with terrorist stragglers in Marawi and put a stop in their recruitment efforts for new members.
"We need not only to focus on Marawi or Lanao, but the whole Mindanao, considering yung ating mga threats coming from ISIS, and international terrorists organizations, ang cover talaga is whole Mindanao, yung border ng Muslim countries," said task force commander Col. Nolasco Mempin.
Under martial law, police visibility and patrols by soldiers will be strengthened. Security will also be tightened in the entry points of cities, said Mempin.
Soldiers and police, he added, are conducting regular profiling of residents to weed out terrorists.
"From the feedback that we got from the majority of the Davaoeños and even some visitors, wala naman silang apprehension or they are afraid na going to Davao City. We noticed the influx of visitors, maybe they are curious, they have the notion na secured ang Davao City," Mempin said.
Martial Law was first declared last May 23, covering the whole of Mindanao, when government forces tried to serve the arrest warrant for terrorist Isnilon Hapilon- which resulted to a full blown gun battle with the Islamic State linked terrorist which includes the Maute group. Upon its lapse of the initial 60 day declaration, last July, Congress granted the request of the President to extend it up until December 31.
Report from ABS CBN News
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