Pimentel backs extension of martial law in Mindanao

FILE: Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III (Photo: By Albert Calvelo – Public Relation and Information Bureau (original here), Senate of the Philippines, Public Domain)

MANILA — Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Monday said Congress is planning to hold a joint session on Wednesday (December 13) to discuss the proposed one-year extension of martial law in Mindanao.

Pimentel told reporters in an interview that the Senate will be meeting martial law administrators on Tuesday, 10 a.m. Afterwards, the joint session would proceed on Wednesday.

He said that he expects that the joint session would take more or less half a day.

The senator, meanwhile, said that he is supportive of the proposal to extend martial law in Mindanao.

”There’s no effect except that military is out of the camps. That is the only effect. That is why tomorrow we need a briefing. What is the factual basis? What does the military know? How come they recommended the extension? We’ll have to listen first,” he added.

Aside from Pimentel, Senator Manny Pacquiao said that he is also in favor of martial law extension in Mindanao.

Pimentel is President of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), which is also the party of President Rodrigo Duterte. Meanwhile, Pacquiao is a member.

Duterte, in a letter to the Congress dated December 8, asked for an extension of martial law in Mindanao for a whole year in order to totally eradicate terror threats posed by remnants of Islamic State (IS)-linked terrorists and by communist rebels in the region.

“A further extension of the implementation of Martial Law and suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao will help the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), the Philippine National Police (PNP), and all other law enforcement agencies to quell completely and put an end to the ongoing rebellion in Mindanao and prevent the same from escalating to other parts of the country,” Duterte said in his letter.

Duterte. In his letter, highlighted the different terror threats facing Mindanao, which were part of the security assessment submitted to Malacañang by the AFP and the PNP. (PNA)