President Rodrigo Duterte / INQUIRER PHOTO / GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
If government troops would ask to extend martial law to address problems in Mindanao, President Rodrigo Duterte would not hesitate to go to Congress and ask for another 60 days.
Speaking at the Manila Hotel聽on Wednesday聽evening, Duterte said he wants the conflict to be over soon but his decision on whether or not to prolong martial law in Mindanao would depend on what the forces on the ground tell him.
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It is more than a month now since the President declared martial law in Mindanao for 60 days on聽May 23, following attacks by pro-Islamic State extremists in Marawi.
鈥淲hen they say everybody is safe, and everybody is free to roam around Mindanao and he will be alive for the next 24 hours, and then I would ask them, 鈥榙o you think it鈥檚 time to lift the martial law?鈥欌�� Duterte said at the 140th founding anniversary of the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association, Inc.
The troops should know better than him, he said, noting that he was no field officer.
鈥淚f they say, 鈥榙on鈥檛 do it yet,鈥� then there鈥檚 nothing we can do. Now, for the 60 days, then I will go to Congress. Another 60 days鈥�. give me another 60 days, but maybe I鈥檇 be able to eliminate all of them,鈥� he said.
But he also said the situation weighs heavy on him, especially when he reads the reports about the dead and the wounded in the conflict.
鈥淎nd I feel, even if it鈥檚 right or wrong, the burden of guilt. I think about those who lost fathers, who lost mothers. So if it could be hurried up, I want this to be over,鈥� he said.
Duterte also explained that he declared martial law in Mindanao following the Marawi attack because government troops told him the situation was 鈥渃ritical,鈥� and foreign fighters were already coming in as part of a plan to establish a caliphate in the country.
If purely local terrorists had been involved, he would not have resorted to martial rule, he said.
鈥淚f the terrorists were only local, I wouldn鈥檛 have declared martial law. But since they were already coming here because of their dream to establish a caliphate, a kingdom in Southeast Asia, I said, 鈥榯his is dangerous,鈥� he explained.
The military earlier said eight foreign fighters鈥� two Saudi nationals, two Malaysians, two Indonesians, a Yemeni, and a Chechen鈥� had been killed in the clashes in Marawi.
Duterte also said聽Wednesday聽that he had ordered government forces to shoot dead those in Mindanao who carry guns but are not part of the police or military.
鈥淏ecause they would really kill us. Not just kill us, they would cut the head of the President in the plaza. They would have Rizal hold it,鈥� he added. JPV