Año backs lifting of martial law in Mindanao

MANILA, Philippines — Interior Secretary Eduardo Año on Thursday threw his support behind the recommendation of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana to not extend the military rule in the region for the fourth time once it ends on December 31.

Año said the windup of martial law in Mindanao will benefit the economy in the South, bringing with it more local and foreign investments and increase tourist arrivals in the region.

“We believe that the lifting of martial law will be advantageous to the economy as it will signal the full return to normalcy and the end to perceived security risks of investing and travelling to Mindanao,” he said in a statement.

According to Año, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) agrees with Lorenzana that the purpose of martial law in Mindanao has already been attained based on the assessment of the police and the military.

He said “normalcy has returned” to entire Mindanao, and the peace and order situation in the area has “remarkably improved” compared to when martial law was declared in 2017 at the height of the Marawi siege.

“In the last two years and eight months that martial law is in effect in Mindanao, our military and police forces in the region have significantly degraded the forces and capabilities of the Maute and other threat groups that they no longer have any capacity to launch a Marawi-type attack,” said the DILG chief.

“Moreover, three guerilla fronts have been cleared and three Pulang Bagani commands of the CPP-NPA-NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front) have been dismantled,” he added.

Local government units, through their respective local peace and order councils, are also now more engaged and actively working with counterparts in the security sector to enforce security measures in Mindanao, noted Año.

“In fact, there is a 30 percent drop in crime in the BARMM (Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) alone,” he said.