Sison hits Palace moves to extend martial law in Mindanao
LUCENA CITY — Exiled Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria “Joma” Sison on Thursday assailed Malacañang for suggesting the extension of martial law in Mindanao nationwide.
“Duterte and his military minions are truly hell-bent on extending martial law in Mindanao and also nationwide,” Sison said in a statement sent from Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Though there is no recommendation yet from the state security officials to extend martial law in Mindanao, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Thursday said Malacañang was inclined not to oppose it.
“If it is helping the population, [and] the population is not even [opposing] it, so to my mind there is a need to extend it,” Panelo said.
But he stressed extension of martial rule in Mindanao would depend on the recommendation of the military to President Duterte.
READ: Palace: There might be need to extend martial law if…
Sison said the strong opposition of the people against the declaration of martial law in Mindanao was one of the reasons why the Duterte administration turned its back on the resumption of peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the political arm of the CPP.
On June 14, Duterte ordered the indefinite cancelation of the resumption of the formal peace talks with the NDFP.
Sison said the Duterte government aims to use martial law “to ram through a phoney kind of federalism, with powers concentrated in the hands of a fascist dictatorship.”
“However, with his frail physical condition, it is doubtful whether Duterte can live long enough to survive the ambitious military officers who think they can use him to prepare a military junta,” Sison said.
The martial law in Mindanao will end on December 31 after it was extended by Congress since Duterte declared it on May 23, 2017.
Mindanao was placed under martial rule after the ISIS-inspired Maute Group attacked the Islamic City of Marawi causing destruction and unrest in the region. /kga
