Philippines' Duterte asks Congress to keep martial law until end of year

PanARMENIAN.Net - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has asked Congress to extend martial law in the southern island of Mindanao until the end of the year to crush rebels inspired by the Islamic State militant group, his spokesman said on Tuesday, July 18, Reuters reports.

Mindanao, an island of 22 million people with a history of separatist and Marxist rebellion, was placed under military rule on May 23 after rebels from the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups took over parts of Marawi City.

The insurgents have put up fierce resistance, with scores of fighters still holed up in Marawi's commercial heart, enduring seven weeks of ground offensives, air strikes and artillery bombardments to prolong a crisis that has killed more than 500 people and displaced at least 260,000.

"The primary objective of the possible extension is to allow our forces to continue with their operations unhampered by deadlines and to focus more on the liberation of Marawi and its rehabilitation and rebuilding," said presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella, reading a letter to Congress signed by Duterte.

The brazen takeover of Marawi by organized, heavily armed militants who have pledged allegiance to Islamic State has been the biggest crisis of Duterte's one-year presidency, and has fanned fears that extremist ideology may run deeper than was previously imagined.

Martial law is a sensitive issue in the Philippines, bringing back memories of the 1970s rule of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was accused of exaggerating security threats to justify measures that allowed his regime to suppress dissent brutally.

Duterte has praised Marcos on numerous occasions and critics say he relishes being likened to a dictator, which plays into his tough image.