PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte insisted Monday night that his imposition of martial law in Mindanao is only temporary and will not be extended to other parts of the country, as he scoffed at comparisons to the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, saying that he had a different set of values.
“I just want to finish something for everyone. Martial law isn’t going to be forever,” he said in Filipino as he addressed a rally by leftist protesters near the Batasang Pambansa after delivering his second State of the Nation Address. “You just wait.”
Duterte said the military delayed its assault in Marawi because he ordered them to slow down as the terrorists were holding at least 300 hostages in a big mosque.
“I barred the military from attacking because the 300 would get hurt or killed,” he added. “That’s the remaining problem you don’t know about.”
In a separate news briefing, Duterte said he never wanted to extend the proclamation of martial law to other parts of the country.
“No nationwide martial law. Why? Because I will look stupid before the eyes of the public if I do that. And I don’t want to be called stupid,” the President said.
Congress on Saturday granted his request to extend his 60-day martial law declaration in Mindanao until the end of the year as fighting between state troops and Islamic State-linked terrorists in Marawi City continued into its third month.
Duterte said he would need around 35,000 to 40,000 men to replace the soldiers he lost in the armed siege in Marawi City and to address future threats.
In the same news briefing, the President lashed out at critics who have compared him to Marcos.
“Why do you have to compare me with Marcos? I am not Marcos. I may not be as brilliant as Marcos, but definitely I am more attuned to my values in life,” the President said.
Duterte, who in the past openly glorified the former dictator, toned down his praise.
“The values of Marcos are not necessarily mine, just because there is martial law,” he said.
In meeting with protesters, Duterte asked for more time to resolve issues and conflicts involving the communist groups, including peace talks. He also said that he would not resume peace talks until the communist rebels show sincerity.
The President also said he would hire more personnel and buy more equipment to combat the ISIS threat and the resurgence of the communist insurgency.
“We must have a strong republic to withstand all threats and challenges. Today’s reality demands, necessitates an Armed Forces that is strong. What I will do with the money is to build a credible Armed Forces that can fight on all fronts everywhere,” he said in the same news briefing.
He also said he would accept high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft from a country he did not identify.
On Tuesday, the military expressed gratitude for Duterte’s pledge to recruit more soldiers and to acquire more weapons to help them fulfill their mandate of defending the country against all forms of threat.
“The AFP fully appreciates the efforts of the Commander-in-Chief to strengthen our capabilities and add more to our ranks so we can accomplish our mandate better,” AFP spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Tuesday blamed domestic conflict as the primary factor behind the country’s slow economic growth among middle-class communities as he urged the citizenry to rally behind the government’s development programs to propel dramatic changes.
Lorenzana said domestic conflict tend to instill a climate of fear among people in the communities forcing them to move from area to another, thus affecting trade and commerce in the community.
Also on Tuesday, the Supreme Court dismissed the consolidated petitions seeking to compel the Senate and the House of Representatives to jointly convene to review President Duterte’s Proclamation 216 declaring martial law in Mindanao.
Voting unanimously during its en banc session on Tuesday, the Court junked the petitions filed by separate groups led by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada for lack of merit.
While all magistrates voted to dismiss the petitions, they differed on the grounds for their decision.
Thirteen of the 15 justices held that the Court cannot compel Congress to call a joint session because of the separation of powers.
According to the majority, there was no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Senate and House in separately affirming the martial law declaration in separate resolutions.
They also agreed with the Office of the Solicitor General that the move of the House of Representatives and Senate to issue resolutions expressing support for the declaration of martial law would suffice.
Associate Justices Marvic Leonen and Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa said they believed the petitions should be dismissed for being moot and academic, after the Senate and the House convened in joint session on July 22, to extend the duration of martial law in Mindanao until the end of the year. With Francisco Tuyay