Manila: President Rodrigo Duterte is urging Congress to extend martial law in Mindanao until the end of the year, saying this is necessary to quell the Maute rebellion and proceed with rehabilitation of Marawi City.
In a letter read at the presidential palace by Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Tuesday, Duterte asked Congress for more time so that his objectives in declaring martial law would be achieved.
“I have come to the conclusion that the existing rebellion in Mindanao which prompted me to issue Proclamation 216 on May 23, 2017, will not be quelled completely by the 22nd July 2017 — the last day of 60-day period provided under Section 18 Article VII of the 1987 Constitution,” Duterte said in the letter.
On May 23, Maute gunmen, aided by an Abu Sayyaf faction led by Isnilon Hapilon and foreign volunteers started an uprising in Marawi City, which is considered the country’s Islamic capital.
The militants had hoped to start a rebellion that would spread like wildfire to other areas in Mindanao.
But apparently the hardline interpretation of Sharia espoused by Maute and Abu Sayyaf was too radical for most Moros and the fire started by the group flickered to a slow death.
Duterte said an extension of the martial law would ultimately deal a crippling blow to the rebellion and allow authorities to get on track with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi City which was heavily damaged by the fighting and constant air strikes.
According to Lt. Gen Carlito Galvez, Maute/Abu Sayyaf are now boxed-in a one kilometre square area in the commercial district of Marawi City covering the villages of Marinaut, Lulut, Mapandi and Bangolo.
“The area held by the Maute and Abu Sayyaf is getting smaller by the day,” he said.
However, he added, the military should press on with the campaign by continuing on with the martial law.
The number of combatants and civilians killed in the Marawi fighting has reached 553 — 411 of which belong to the Maute-Abu Sayyaf and foreign volunteers.
Duterte said he had decided to ask Congress to extend the martial law period after recommendations by Secretary of National Defence Delfin Lorenzana, Armed Forces Chief Eduardo Ano and National Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa.
“For this reason and because public safety requires it, I call upon the Congress to extend until 31st December 2017 or for such a period of time as the Congress may determine the proclamation of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao,” Duterte’s message said.
The president has also asked the Congress to convene a special session this Saturday to deliberate and consider his request.
Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for his part, said the martial law extension “is not totally justified.
“The armed forces itself said the Maute are down to 60. So, in other words, the people of Mindanao would be inconvenienced by martial law just to neutralise the 60 Mautes who are cornered in Marawi?,” he asked.
House Speaker Pantaloon Alvarez said as a Mindanaoan, he would support martial law “even up to 2022”, if only to end the problem of lawlessness on the island once and for all.
“This rebellion [in Mindanao] had been going on for 40 years. There is also the problem on insurgency from the communist New Peoples’ Army,” Alvarez said.
