President Rodrigo Duterte will visit military camps across the country, Malacanang said Tuesday, after again stressing in a televised address that terrorism is the country's top threat and that communist rebels are worse than extremist groups like the Abu Sayyaf.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said Duterte is set to visit troops in an area with “intensified fighting” as the President admitted to be “bored” inside the Palace and in his hometown of Davao City for several months due to the coronavirus lockdown.
In his late Monday night meeting with his Cabinet, the President said he hates the lockdown and would like to go around the country.
“If there is anyone who wants to be out to enjoy and even to live life normally, that would be me. I’m the one who really dislikes having to impose a lockdown. I hate it. I do not want it even for myself,” Duterte said.
Meanwhile, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines has asked Malacanang to veto the Anti-Terrorism Bill that Congress passed recently due to “vagueness, infirmities or constitutional issues.”
In its comments and recommendations on the controversial measure earlier solicited by Deputy Executive Secretary for Legal Affairs Ryan Alvin Acosta, IBP president Domingo Egon Cayosa stressed that any proposed law, in this case the anti-terrorism bill, must be clear and does not contravene with the constitution.
Cayosa noted that President Rodrigo Duterte has previously vetoed bills with "constitutional defects" as they cited several provisions of the anti-terrorism bill which the lawyers’ group deemed unconstitutional.
However, Urban Development Secretary Eduardo del Rosario, in his capacity as Task Force Bangon Marawi chairman, on Tuesday backed the signing of the Anti-Terrorism Bill into law.
He said terrorists have been dragging the country from achieving lasting peace and economic development “for decades now.”
Del Rosario oversees the massive rehabilitation of Marawi City, Lanao del Sur, marshaling 56 government agencies ordered to rebuild the metropolis ravaged by a siege of Islamic State-linked terrorists.
“I join all peace-loving Filipinos in supporting the passage of the long-delayed Anti-Terrorism Bill. We actually needed this measure yesterday, not today or tomorrow,” he said.
Roque said Duterte’s movement would be limited since it would be the Presidential Security Group (PSG) that will protect him anywhere he wants to visit.
“I’m hoping the President can actually do it, but PSG is rather strict as far as his movement is concerned, because as you know he is a senior citizen and is part of the vulnerable population for this disease. But I think the President will insist to visit his troops,” Roque said.
“Duterte has a scheduled visit. I don’t think I’m at liberty to say exactly where he’s going but let’s just say it’s an area where there has been intensified fighting recently and quite a number of soldiers have been killed and wounded in action,” he added.