MANILA, Philippines — The finance department on Thursday said that the Philippine economy was not threatened by the imposition of army rule on Mindanao island, stressing that such measure was needed to stabilize the situation in a region far from the country’s business and economic center.
In a statement, Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that the growth of the country’s economy remained on track, and this would not be affected by President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of army rule in the Philippines’ troubled south.
“The economy is in no way threatened by the imposition of martial law. The military is in full control of the government installations and major infrastructures on the island,” he said.
Dominguez said that the clashes in the poorest regions in the country would not “adversely” affect the economic position of the Philippines as he emphasized that the military was in full control of government installations and facilities needed for commerce.
He said that martial law would protect these facilities, so business transactions would not be affected.
He also said that economic expansion would not be compromised because the affected areas were far from the “centers of commerce and sources of growth.”
“Threats of violence in the poorest regions of the country will not affect adversely the economic position of the whole country. Because the centers of commerce and sources of growth are in areas far away from the sites of potential conflict, economic expansion will not be jeopardized and economic opportunities will remain robust,” the finance secretary said.
Although Marawi City is the center of commerce in Lanao De Sur, the threats of violence are far from Mindanao’s major business centers, according to Dominguez, adding that the military is doing everything it can to minimize the threat.
On Tuesday night, Duterte placed Mindanao island under military rule following clashes between government forces and fighters of the so-called Islamic State (IS)-inspired Maute Group and Abu Sayyaf which have so far left five soldiers dead and 32 others wounded.
Government troops have claimed that they have killed 13 Maute bandits and injured a still undetermined number.
Duterte was with the government’s senior security officials on an official visit to Moscow, Russia when the siege of Marawi erupted. The president was forced to cut short his visit, which was originally scheduled to last for four days, because Duterte felt his physical presence was needed in the Philippines to deal with the problem, Alan Cayetano, his foreign affairs chief, said.
Despite the shortened stay in Russia, the chief executive was still able to hold a bilateral meeting with his counterpart, Vladimir Putin for whom the Philippine leader has openly expressed adulation.
Upon arrival, the president said the government would “hold in abeyance” its plan to revive the region’s economy until the threats of violence had been suppressed.
According to finance data, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where Marawi City is located, accounts for P50.6 billion of the P8.1 trillion Philippine gross domestic product in 2016. This represents 0.6 percent of the whole country. ARMM is also the smallest among the 17 regions of the Philippines.
Mindanao’s economy expanded by 6.4 percent last year from the previous period’s 5.8 percent. However, the island accounts only for 14.4 percent of Philippine GDP last year.