President Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Presidential Photo
President Duterte sought to allay public fears he was preparing to declare martial law, saying it would only be a last resort to curtail “widespread violence.”
“I am not a fan of a martial law. I’m a lawyer. People were afraid of martial law. But if ever, martial law is a contingency really to meet widespread violence,” he told select members of the press Tuesday evening.
He was responding to queries over an earlier warning to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus should lawlessness escalate, which many have interpreted as a prelude to martial rule.
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Mr. Duterte was just “underlining our awareness and necessary consciousness of the growing impunity” in some parts of Mindanao, where Islamist groups and communist guerrillas operate.—LEILA B. SALAVERRIA