Filipino Congress OKs longer martial law

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Congress voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to approve President Rodrigo Duterte’s request to extend martial law in the south by a year, after the military warned that terrorist threats continue in the region despite the defeat of a monthslong entrenchment by pro-Islamic State militants.

A majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives — with 240 voting to approve and 27 opposing — backed the extension of martial law across the Mindanao region through the end of 2018. The vote followed warnings by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other officials that Islamic State-linked militants were trying to recover from their defeat in southern Marawi city and were plotting new attacks.

Five months of intense fighting, including daily airstrikes and artillery bombardments by the military against hundreds of militants, left more than 1,100 combatants and noncombatants dead and displaced about a half-million people, turning mosque-studded Marawi’s central business and residential districts into a smoldering war zone.

Opponents argued that extending martial law in the south is unconstitutional because it’s an “extreme measure” that can only be imposed when actual rebellions against the government exist. They expressed fears that such a move can be a prelude for President Rodrigo Duterte to declare martial law throughout the Philippines.

AP/AARON FAVILA Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (center) on Wednesday in Manila takes a look at weapons confiscated during a siege by militants in the city of Marawi.