Duterte on martial law: ‘All options on the table’

“ALL options are on the table” to deal security threats, President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday, as he raised the prospect of placing the entire Philippines under martial law.

The President thanked Congress for extending martial rule and said his “only consideration” was the welfare of the Philippines.

“At this time, all options are on the table. There is only one rationale there, the existence of the Republic of the Philippines. You threaten the existence of the Republic of the Philippines, I am sure that everybody will react and do what he must do prevent it,” Duterte said.

The President warned that expanding the scope of martial law would be up to the “enemies of the state,” which according to

him included the communist New People’s Army (NPA).

“It is up to the enemies of the state. If the NPAs said they are recruiting en masse and they create trouble and they are armed and they are about to destroy the government, you know the government would not wait until the dying days of its existence,” he said.

“The government can always preempt and prevent that disas- ter. To what extend, what level of atrocities or attacks, it is not for me to say that. It is for the Armed Forces and the police,” the President added.

Duterte said a Christmas cease-fire with the NPAs would depend on the military.

‘Difficult without martial law’

Duterte said martial law would enable the military to arrest, detain and question sympathizers of rebellion in restive Mindanao.

“Without the martial law powers, the ancillary powers attached to the implementor, the implementing agency, we will have a hard time. How many hours can you detain a person? The longest is 36 hours. You think you can really solve the problem, the crime? These are criminals, they are not those imbued with a sense of patriotism,” he said.

Malacañang appealed to the public for support following Congress’ approval of the President’s request to extend martial law in Mindanao.

In a statement, Palace spokesman Harry Roque said the extension was needed to “eradicate” the “Islamic State-inspired Da’awatul Islamiyah Waliyatul Masriq; other like-minded local or foreign terrorist groups and armed lawless groups; and the communist terrorists; and their coddlers,

Roque also said martial law would “ensure the unhampered rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi and the lives of its residents.”

“Public safety is our primordial concern; thus, we ask the public to stand behind the administration and rally behind our defenders to quell the continuing rebellion in Mindanao,” he said.