DAVAO CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday told local officials here that he will declare martial law if they will not help him in preventing violence.
Duterte said he will not hesitate to declare martial law if the violence in Mindanao goes out of control.
“If things go out of control and violence has reached the level of total breakdown, I will not hesitate [to declare martial law],” the president said.
He said that Mindanao’s situation has become chaotic because of the presence of terrorist groups and rebels, adding that the main problems in the region include terrorism and lawlessness such as bombings that harms even innocent people, including children.
He said that if the lawlessness continue, the situation will make him look like an idiot who cannot do his job.
“I cannot preside over the fear of the country because it will make me an idiot. It’s either I solve the problem or I go out. It’s the only solution there,” he said.
Duterte said he didn’t want to declare martial law so he is appealing local government officials to help him solve the problem in Mindanao.
“I do not want to do it because it is not good, because if there is martial law the supreme authority in the country will go to the police and me and it will be hard because we have a legitimate structure.”
At the same time, the President said he will be forced to declare martial law only if the violence affect the day to day operations of the government.
Duterte said that he can understand the nature of combats but not to the extent that it includes harming the innocent children.
“I can understand combatants but why does it includes our children too? I can even do it by declaring martial law. Martial law will open every house there and even arrests you in the streets,” he said.
He said that in combating terrorism in Mindanao “we devour our own flesh” whether it is against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front or the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Duterte also appealed to local officials to ask terrorists in their area to go away and let their places be at peace, and also to never tolerate terrorism in their areas and to use their police in going against the terrorists.