Rody: Give me 15 days to end Marawi conflict

MANILA, Philippines - With fighting in Marawi dragging on for more than a month now, President Duterte thinks he needs 10 to 15 days more to rid the city of militants professing allegiance to the Middle East-based terror group Islamic State (IS).

“Just 10 to 15 days,” the President said in remarks at the 10th listing anniversary of Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. yesterday at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). 

“Maybe we miscalculated the number of firearms. Hindi maubusan (They never run out),” Duterte said, referring to the Mautes. “This is already the 45th or 46th day, hindi maubos-ubos, especially the grenades which are placed inside the tube of the Armalite.”

Asked to clarify the statement, chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo did not discount the possibility that the President could be talking about extending martial law.

But Panelo said Duterte had declared he would wait for the recommendation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) before deciding whether to extend martial law or not.

“If the 10 to 15 days fall beyond the 60-day period, then logically an extension is most likely. But as he has repeatedly said, the extension of martial law depends on the recommendation of the AFP and the PNP,” he said.

Still, the President “could be referring to both, as martial law was declared on the basis of the ongoing rebellion in Marawi City,” Panelo said.

The siege of Marawi by the Maute group has already claimed more than 500 lives – including 89 soldiers and policemen – since its start on May 23.

The President said at the PSE gathering that what the soldiers on the ground found baffling was the Maute terrorists’ seemingly inexhaustible supply of grenades and other ammunition for their high-powered firearms.

Some 80 to 100 militants still holed up in some parts of Marawi are holding close to 300 people hostage, including a Roman Catholic priest.

The President lamented that while authorities had been alerted to the militants’ stockpiling of weapons in Marawi prior to the siege, they were clueless about the amount of weapons smuggled in.

In his speech, Duterte did not say if he would seek an extension of martial law in Mindanao, which expires on July 22.

He stressed, however, that he would make another attempt to go to Marawi City – after being turned back twice by bad weather.

“I want to be with my men fighting on the ground. I do not want to go there when it is already peaceful,” he said.

He said in jest that if he would take a bullet from a sniper, he’d rather have it to his butt.

Sought for comment on the President’s pronouncement, National Security Adviser  Hermogenes  Esperon Jr. said the commander-in-chief was referring to an “indicative target,” and not a time frame to actually end the conflict.

“It’s just an indicative target, that’s it. You can’t just say ‘fighting should only be over in 10 days.’ But that’s an indicative target and we are determined to get that,” Esperon told reporters.