Congress says yes to Mindanao martial law extension
Lawmakers allowed President Rodrigo Duterte’s request to further the implementation of martial law in Mindanao until December 31, 2018 due to the onset of rebellion in the area.
Senate President Aquulino Pimentel III alongside House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Photo from Philippine Star.
During a joint session, the House of Representatives and the Senate, voting 226-23 and 14-4 respectively, agreed to continue the imposition of martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus that will enable the government to arrest an individual without a warrant.
According to the president’s letter, the suggestion to lengthen its implementation came from National Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana. The extension was requested to “ensure total eradication of DAESH-inspired Da’awatul Islyamiyah Waliyatul Masriq (DIWM), other like-minded Local/Foreign Terrorist Groups (L/FTGs) and Armed Lawless Groups (ALGs), and the communist terrorists (CTs) and their coddlers, supporters, and financiers.”
Additionally, the New People’s Army (NPA), known to be the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), was included in the list of reasons behind the president’s request.
The NPA “took advantage” of the government forces’ distraction due to the Marawi siege to intensify “their decades-long rebellion against the government and stepped up terrorist acts against innocent civilians and private entities, as well as guerilla warfare against the security sector and public and government infrastructure,” disclosed in the president’s letter.
The motive behind it was “to seize political power through violent means and supplant the country’s democratic form of government with communist rule.”
The request for the extension did not only aim for security and public order, it also eyed the rehabilitation and stabilization of the socio-economic growth and development of the government and the Mindanaoan people.
Past extensions and encounter
This has been the second extension grant for the Mindanao martial law. The first was on July 22 when the president asked for a five-month extension that would have supposedly ended on December 31.
The first imposition of martial law in the whole Mindanao land was due to the alleged Islamic State (IS) linked-Maute group terror attacks in Marawi from the past year and then again on May 23.
It may be remembered that on November 2016, the rebel group placed Lanao del Sur under siege where they were seen carrying black flags with printed Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) logos. It ended with a firefight between the government troops and the rebels in the town hall of Butig.
Proclamation 216 which placed Mindanao under martial law was signed by President Duterte on May 23 and was declared in the land the following day.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the maximum time that the president could implement the martial law is 60 days. Any more extensions should be decided by the Congress.
