MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte flaunted that the martial law declaration in the entire island of Mindanao was effective in terms of crime reduction even if there were series of bombings recently.
In a televised interview, Duterte said the imposition of martial rule has been a deterrent against crime.
“It has lessened criminality by and large. And the only way to do that is to conduct a survey amongst the people of Mindanao, the political leaders, they can call them,” Duterte stressed.
“May mga number man ‘yang mga istasyon [media]. Maybe they can conduct an interview. Or they can always ask their network there to do the survey. Tingnan natin,” he added.
The President first imposed martial law in Mindanao on May 23, 2017 after the Islamic State-inspired Maute terrorist group attacked the Islamic City of Marawi.
Even as the government declared an end to fierce urban fighting in Marawi, Duterte later asked Congress to extend martial rule in the southern region until the end of 2018 due to “existing terror threats.”
However, despite the imposition of the martial rule, the Mindanao was still rocked with two bombing incidents in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat last month that resulted in death of five persons.
There has been talk of possibly extending it again after the series of bombings in the region but the critics said the bombings showed that martial law is not the solution against terrorism in the region./PN
