The country can perhaps still
recall the national nightmare that began on May 2017. At the time a routine
arrest of terrorist leaders in Marawi City instead triggered a gathering of
Islamist militants that drove out police and military forces before doing the
unthinkable for Filipinos: the declaration of a territory of the Islamic State
(ISIS). It would not be until October later that year when a concerted effort
by government forces finally liberated a ruined Marawi from ISIS-aligned control,
during which President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao, May-December
2017. For security considerations a one-year extension was given for all 2018,
and again all 2019. But now another year-long extension is being proposed.
CNN Philippines reports that Mindanao might well see another full
year of martial law over two years since the fateful Battle of Marawi between
the government and terrorists aligned with ISIS. This is being pushed by
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon from January 1 to December 31 of
2020, citing the continuing trend of communist and Islamist insurgencies in the
area. Esperon especially points out the rise of activities by the CPP-NPA,
normally prominent in Luzon and parts of Visayas, but recently established in
Mindanao.
Speaking to the media this Tuesday,
July 23, Esperon noted that CPP-NPA has become especially belligerent in the
Davao and Surigao provinces, but also, alarmingly, within the territory of the
recently-established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanado (BARMM).
This was attributed to the bigger focus by law enforcement and military to
ISIS-aligned terrorist cells. Esperon notes that continuing martial law in
Mindanao will better empower regional authorities to “control” population
flows, as extremist elements tend to blend into any mass movement of people in
order to spread their activities, such as when some Marawi residents moved away
from the city and settled elsewhere in Mindanao.
It has been a testament to
President Rodrigo Duterte’s strong sway over Congress that the legislators have
easily approved not just the initial Mindanao martial law declaration but all
extensions to its duration since. And as Presidential Spokesperson Salvador
Panelo during another media briefing in Tuesday sees it, Duterte listens to “those
who are knowledgeable on the facts existing on the ground," and will
follow the recommendation of another extension of martial law over Mindanao.
This is despite claims by human rights organizations that violations have already
begun to be committed during the extended period.
For the year 2020 extension
period however, Hermogenes Esperon proposed that it might not have to apply to
Davao City at the request of Mayor and Presidential daughter Sara Duterte. That
would make Davao City the first place in Mindanao without martial law since
2017.
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