(Eagle News)– The Armed Forces of the Philippines on Wednesday, Dec. 12, extended its “appreciation” for Congress’ grant of another extension of martial law in Mindanao.
““We appreciate this grant that lengthens the period of Martial Law implementation (in Mindanao)..,” Brig. Gen. Edgard Arevalo, AFP spokesperson, said in a statement.
He said the AFP was “mindful that it is impressed with enormous responsibility…to quell the rebellion that persists in Mindanao and prevent lawless violence by local terrorist groups from spreading in other parts of the country.”
“Apart from that reason, the extension seeks not only to sustain the economic gains owing to the peace and security in Mindanao, it also responds to positively to the clamor of local government executives to extend Martial Law implementation in the island because of law and order it provides to their constituents,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Congress voted to grant President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for the extension, which is the third since he first asked for martial law to be imposed in Mindanao after local terrorists overran Marawi in May 2017.
In seeking for the third extension, Duterte and his government argued there was a need to quell the rebellion subsisting in the region, and noted the social and economic gains, among others, in Mindanao when martial law was imposed.
During the joint session of Congress, 235 voted in favor of the extension, 28 against, and one abstained.
