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Five Years Of Martial Law May Be Too Long — Military
Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr
July 11th, 2017 | 09:08 AM | 3019 views
MANILA, PHILIPPINES
The military does not seem to support the five-year extension of martial law in Mindanao as proposed by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr. said he does not know the basis of Alvarez for his proposal but believes such timeframe might be “too long.”
“Actually, five years may be too long for the moment,” Padilla said during the “Mindanao Hour” briefing in Malacañang.
Padilla said the military has started to conduct an assessment of the security situation and would submit its recommendation on whether or not to extend martial law to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana “in a few days.” The assessment includes whether the troops have accomplished the mission given when martial law was declared by the President.
Lorenzana, the administrator of martial law in the troubled region, will then submit such report to the President for his decision.
“The Armed Forces, before it makes its recommendation to the Commander-in-Chief must have enough basis — an intelligent basis — to make whatever recommendations there is for the extension or the lifting,” Padilla said.
“Our primary basis is whether we have accomplished the operational objectives that have been given to us at the very beginning of martial law,” he added.
So far, Padilla said the military has been able to thwart the Maute terror group from launching a larger scale attack in Marawi. He said security forces have also been deployed to prevent a spillover of the Malawi fighting to other parts of Mindanao.
Of the hundreds of individuals listed in the martial law arrest orders, he said the more than 60 terror suspects have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the Marawi rebellion.
“So overall, napapangalagaan natin ‘yung security ng buong isla ng Mindanao at lahat ng buong Pilipinas [Overall, we were able to safeguard the security of the entire region of Mindanao and the rest of the Philippines],” he said.
President Dutente earlier said he would depend on the military assessment on whether martial law will be lifted or extended. He said martial law would remain in effect if the security officials rule that the country is not yet safe from terror threats.
Source:
by Genalyn D. Kabiling
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