Why 25 million Filipinos are living under martial law

Filipino lawmakers have voted to keep the country’s second-largest island – and its 25 million residents – under martial law for another year as the government seeks to break a tenacious Islamist insurgency.

The latest extension will keep Mindanao under military rule until the end of next year, “prolonging what was already the country’s longest period of martial law since the brutal 1970s era of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos”, says Channel News Asia.

Citing a series of deadly bombings in the restive region, President Rodrigo Duterte argued that the Islamist terror groups responsible for the attacks could regroup if the tough security measures, including the suspension of habeas corpus, were lifted too soon.

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Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said that the extension was needed to support government forces, who he claimed were “at the cusp of ending rebellion in Mindanao”.

The area, where Muslims make up 25% of the population in a country which is otherwise overwhelmingly Catholic, has been a hotbed of unrest for decades, acting as a spawning ground for Communist, separatist and Islamist militias.

The main island and its surrounding smaller islands have been under military rule since May 2017 when hundreds of militants belonging to the Isis-affiliated Maute group took over parts of Marawi City.

The insurgency drew the army and special forces into a long and deadly campaign of house-to-house urban warfare.

“By the time the military declared victory on Oct 23, more than 1,000 militants, government troops and civilians were dead, half of Marawi was pulverised into rubble and dust, and about 400,000 people living in and near Marawi were forced to flee their homes,” says The Straits Times.

The city’s mayor welcomed the extension of martial law in Mindanao. “I would say six months to one year is enough for us to really contend resurgence of another Maute group," Majul Usman Gandamra told national broadcaster ABS-CBN.

But although the country’s congress approved the proposal by a huge majority of 235 to 28, both lawmakers and activists have expressed unease with the situation, citing its corrosive effect on human rights and democracy in the region.

“According to the tally of local rights group Karapatan, 88 individuals [have been] killed by state forces and paramilitary groups since the declaration of martial law in Mindanao,” The Philippine Star reports.

At least 1,450 individuals have been illegally detained during this time period.

“It makes me wonder, is this the new normal?" Filipino senator Franklin Drilon warned ahead of the vote.

“Martial law is like antibiotic: It is only resorted to when normal over-the-counter drugs no longer work,” he said. “We must not resort to it when other less extreme measures are available.”