Martial law stays despite death of Abu Sayyaf leader

FILE: Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla. (PCOO photo)

Martial law in war-torn Mindanao remains even after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana confirmed that Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute have been killed in an operation carried out by government forces.

AFP spokesman Brigadier General Restituto Padilla announced that the cleaning operations in Marawi continue to progress positively and successfully. However, “this does not signal the end of the hostilities nor the end of the fighting in Marawi because there still remains to this date a space occupied by armed elements and the existence of hostages.”

Padilla said that a consultation has to be conducted before the president can lift martial law in Mindanao.

“And from the side of the military, although this is a political decision, we will make appropriate recommendations,” he said, adding that the government is looking forward to the revival of normalcy in every part of the war-torn region.

Padilla said that there are still about 20 to 30 armed elements existing in the battlefield of Marawi and that government forces are watchful of the possible existence of networks between all terrorist groups.

“But as I mentioned earlier, there still remains a part of the network that continues to exist in other parts of Mindanao like Jolo, Tawi-Tawi, Basilan, and other parts of Lanao as well as Maguindanao and Cotabato, which needs to be addressed continuously for that threat to be managed,” he said.

“There is a greater threat here that needs to be addressed and the need for the maintenance of martial law in some parts is really important because of the network,” he added. “It is something that we need to do in order to address quickly and adequately those threats that are looming in the horizon or in the environment that may result to the harm of innocents like what happened in Marawi.”

According to him, a certain Dr. Mahmud remains to be one of the high-value targets of the military.

“It is also paramount that as we come to the closure of this significant event in our history, that we be allowed still time to clear the rest of Marawi of all potential IEDs, unexploded ordnance and booby traps that may have been missed by the troops in its earlier clearing operations,” he said.