Declaring state of lawlessness in Marawi needs more study – dela Rosa

Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, a former chief of the Philippine National Police (File photo from the Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — Declaring a state of lawlessness in Marawi due to last Sunday’s bombing at the Mindanao State University (MSU) would need further study, Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a former national police, said on Monday.

“For me personally, as of now, it needs further study,” dela Rosa told reporters in a briefing.

He had been about the issue a day after the bombing at the Dimaporo Gym at MSU, which killed four people and wounded 50 others.

Asked to compare the bombing to the 2017 Marawi siege, dela Rosa said the incidents were different.

“Both are acts of terror, right? But in the case of the Marawi siege, there were really forces occupying the place,” he said, speaking partly in Filipino.  “They were holding the entire city of Marawi. So there was really a need to make a declaration [of a state of lawlessness]. In this case, we might later say it was an isolated incident. So as I’ve said, it needs further study.”

In 2016, then-President Rodrigo Duterte declared a state of national emergency because of the five-month Marawi siege with private armies, local warlords, and even terrorist groups and religious extremists threatening other parts of Mindanao.