MANILA — Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas on Tuesday said members of the House of Representatives are “overwhelmingly in favor” of President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for a full-year extension of martial law in Mindanao.
Fariñas made the statement after emerging from an all-party caucus to listen to a briefing of Malacañang officials on the basis of Duterte’s request for an extension of martial law.
“The general sentiment was overwhelmingly in favor of the extension especially from the members of Mindanao,” Fariñas said.
Fariñas also said House members raised the need to address the real cause of the insurgency hounding the province.
Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea gave the assurance that they were addressing all of this.
Other officials from the executive department present were Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Interior Undersecretary Eduardo Año and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Rey Leonardo Guerrero.
The House of Representatives and the Senate are set to convene in a joint session Wednesday to decide on whether or not to approve Duterte’s request for a one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao.
Fariñas revealed that the Senate will hold its session at the Andaya Hall in the House of Representatives on Wednesday following the joint session, describing it as “unprecedented.”
In his letter dated December 8, President Duterte asked Congress to further extend the declaration of martial law in the whole of Mindanao for the entirety of 2018 to totally eradicate terror threats posed by remnants of Islamic State (IS)-linked terrorists and by communist rebels in the region.
He said extending the martial law for another year would help state security forces to crush the rebellion in Mindanao and ensure public safety.
Duterte highlighted the different threats facing Mindanao, which were part of the security assessment submitted to Malacañang by the AFP and the PNP.
He said that despite the deaths of almost a thousand IS-inspired extremists, including their leaders, in the battle of Marawi, remnants of the group and their supporters have continued their recruitment and training of new members “to carry on the rebellion.” (PNA)