Former Bayan Muna party-list lawmaker Neri Colmenares is firm in his belief that putting Mindanao under martial law for one more year as requested by President Rodrigo Duterte is a strategy to suppress the current administration’s opposition and dissent.
“The target here are the opposition and dissent. Because President Duterte is very intolerant of dissent,” Colmenares said in an interview with ANC on Tuesday.
“It is intolerant to opposition based on facts. If someone protests, talks about human rights, he grabs them,” he added.
Colmenares added that there is a possibility that the Duterte administration would declare martial law not only in Mindanao but nationwide after officially proclaiming the New People’s Army a terrorist group.
(DAILY NEWS ROUND UP FOR 12/ 12 / 17)