Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque. INQUIRER file photo / JOAN BONDOC
There is no need for President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a nationwide martial law, Malacañang said Wednesday, as it insisted that it would not fall into the trap hatched by enemies of the state.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque issued the statement a day after the Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Carlito Galvez Jr. said the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is out to force Duterte to declare a nationwide martial law as part of the alleged plot dubbed as “Red October.”
In a statement, the CPP denied this, saying it would not “push for something which has relentlessly inflicted atrocious crimes on the people.”
But Roque backed the claim of the AFP.
“We stand by the statement of the Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] that the Communist Party of the Philippines is pushing the President to place the country under martial law,” he said in a statement.
“By sowing chaos through its ‘Red October’ ouster plot,” Roque said “the CPP hopes that a nationwide martial law declaration would spark people’s outrage.”
“We will therefore not fall into this trap hatched by the enemies of the state. “President Duterte sees no ground to declare martial law nationwide as the whole situation is under control,” he said.
Duterte placed the entire Mindanao region under martial law on May 23 after the ISIS-inspired Maute Group attacked Marawi City, prompting a siege that lasted for five months. /jpv
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