Duterte wants to extend martial law
PHILIPPINES - President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Congress to extend martial law in Mindanao until December 31, 2017, over concerns of a “looming situation,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said on Tuesday. Duterte proposed to Senate President Koko Pimentel and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to continue military rule in the southern Philippines for over five more months because the “looming situation in Mindanao has to be addressed,” Abella said in a press conference. The President has also requested that the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus be likewise extended. “I have come to the conclusion that the existing rebellion in Mindanao, which has prompted me to issue Proclamation No. 216 on 23rd May 2017, will not be quelled completely by 22nd July 2017,” Duterte said in a portion of his letter read aloud by Abella. “For this reason, because public safety requires it, I call upon the Congress to extend until 31st of December 2017 or for such a period of time as the Congress may determine the proclamation of martial law and the suspension of privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao,” he added. Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law on May 23, hours after fighting between government forces and ISIS-linked Maute group broke out in Marawi City.
Proclamation 216, which declared martial law, will lapse on July 22 in line with the 60-day limit under the 1987 Constitution. Martial law administrator Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, martial law implementor General Eduardo Año, and Police Chief Ronald Dela Rosa have given their recommendations, but the President used his “thorough, personal assessment” and his own sources of information as basis for his request, Abella said. “The primary objective of the possible extension is to allow our forces to continue with their operation, unhampered by deadlines and to focus more on the liberation of Marawi and its rehabilitation and rebuilding,” Abella said. Despite the military’s pronouncement it is “doable” to end the conflict in Marawi before the end of July, Abella said Duterte still sees the threat of rebellion in Mindanao serious enough to back up his request for an extension of martial law.
(CNN Philippines)