MANILA, Philippines — After more than two years of martial law in Mindanao, President Duterte is expected to lift military control over the southern Philippines as a sign of returning “normalcy” in the region.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana had asked Duterte not to extend the implementation of martial rule in the region, which will expire on Dec. 31.
The scheduled lifting of martial law in Mindanao comes more than two years after the Maute group’s siege in Marawi City and after the President’s order to place Mindanao under military control to counter terrorists and other threats, including communist insurgency.
With the peace talks now being revived and the government declaring a Christmas ceasefire from Dec. 23 to Jan. 7 with the communist New People’s Army (NPA), the coming year could hopefully be a more peaceful year for Mindanaoans.
“Our security forces have determined that the purpose of implementing martial law has been attained and the prevailing condition in the entire Mindanao, including Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, has greatly improved since the defeat of Maute fighters in October 2017,” Lorenzana said.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) agrees, though it vows to continue its whole-of-nation approach in ending the NPA problem and addressing other threats like the terrorist Abu Sayyaf.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, the President’s daughter, was among the local officials in Mindanao who have sought the lifting of martial law in the South.
Martial law in Mindanao started when terrorist groups led by the Islamic State-linked Maute group seized Marawi City in May 2017.
The bloody siege lasted from May to October and left some 168 soldiers dead with 1,548 of them wounded in battle.
President Duterte initially declared martial law only in the region to contain the problem but eventually expanded it to the whole of Mindanao.
Congress, on the recommendation of national security officials, the military and the police, approved the extensions of the implementation of martial rule up to Dec. 31, 2019.
The military claimed that during the period, NPA fighters, supporters and symphatizers voluntarily surrendered, which weakened the communist rebel group.