A day after
Senate Minority Frank Drilon ask the Duterte adminstration to lift Martial Law
in Mindanao.
President
Rodrigo Roa Duterte while in a speaking engagement in Ilocos Sur said he is
open to extending martial law if the local officials would recommend it.
He said that “Mindanao
continues to be a problem” even after 2 years since martial law was declared in
the restive south.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PCOO) |
“I am not advocating for any
continuance of the martial law. But if the local government units, the
governors, mayors and even congressmen, would find it that it would be to the
best interest of the Filipino in Mindanao, I would not hesitate to say yes,”
the President said
Duterte
also mentions about security threats
from groups being linked to the terror group ISIS.
“Now,
‘yung Abu Sayyaf, Maute, they are all ISIS. They have pledged allegiance to a
very corrupt and empty and stupid religious ideology. They do nothing but kill
and destroy,” Duterte said.
“You know,
it’s not easy to say it in public pero parang sampal sa atin ‘yan kaliwa’t
kanan, every day that there is a hostage there. So I had an agreement with the
military na maglagay ako ng isang division, so it might improve things. Well,
if they want killing, I told the military, 'Give it to them,'” he added.
In May 2017, Islamic State enclave attacked and
held Marawi City through 5 months of government air strikes and ground
offensives.
Duterte declared martial law in
Mindanao in the wake of the Marawi City siege.
The original martial law
declaration was supposed to last only for 60 days, as indicated in the 1987
Constitution, but Congress voted to extend it until the end of 2017 to help
troops end the siege.
In late 2017, Pres. Duterte
requested for another extension until the end of 2018, saying the militants
were regrouping despite the end of clashes.
In Dec. 2018, Congress had granted
for the third time Duterte's request to extend martial law in Mindanao until
the end of 2019 to quell terror groups that "continue to defy the
government."
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Report from ABS-CBN News
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