Duterte pleads with Muslim Mindanao mayors to stop extremists, threatens martial law in region

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte speaks before local town mayors in Davao city in southern Philippines on Thusday. (Reuters)

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday pleaded for help from mayors in Muslim parts of the south to deal with Islamist militants, and threatened to impose martial law there if the problem is not tackled.
The largely Roman Catholic Philippines has been struggling to thwart two small but violent Daesh-linked groups behind kidnappings, piracy, bombings and the recent beheading of a German captive.
“I plead before you because I do not want the trouble in (the southern island of) Mindanao to spin out of control,” Duterte told mayors in a speech in Davao.
“Because then, as president, I will be forced, I will be compelled, to exercise the extra-ordinary powers.”
He added: “Help me. If not, you know, martial law, then I have to authorize the military just to arrest them, detain you.”
The Philippines is fighting Abu Sayyaf militants on two remote islands in the south. The government is seeking the support of separatists who are talking peace with the government to root out groups with extremist agendas.
After years of denials by the Philippines that Daesh is seeking a foothold in the country, Duterte's administration says it is now certain that local rebels are in contact with Middle East extremists and receiving funds.
Duterte has warned of a “contamination” and the possibility of Daesh fighters driven from Iraq and Syria taking refuge in the Philippines.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Abu Sayyaf’s kidnappings were a national embarrassment, with the number of hostages increasing to 31 from 18 captives when Duterte came to power on June 30.
“It’s giving me a headache,” he told reporters, adding the military’s deadline to eliminate the militants by June was unrealistic.
“Sometimes, I couldn’t sleep at night.”
He said the army would move an infantry division to Jolo island, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold where most of the captives are held. A marine and naval task force would be deployed to tackle piracy.
Lorenzana said the Philippines would jointly patrol southern seas with Indonesia and Malaysia from April, creating a sea lane for the merchant ships Abu Sayyaf has been intercepting.

Defense secretary suspicious
of Chinese activities
The Philippine defense minister on Thursday said he was “disturbed” by what he believes are survey missions by Chinese ships deep into its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and in an area designated as its continental shelf.
Lorenzana said Chinese ships had been monitored in recent months at various locations close to the Philippines. A warship was detected 70 miles off its Western coast in the South China Sea and survey ships were seen at the north and south of the eastern seaboard.
While Duterte has frequently praised China amid a warming relationship, Lorenzana has remained openly suspicious, noting that its fortification of manmade islands inside the Philippine EEZ has continued.
China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.
Lorenzana said that satellite imagery provided by allies had tracked Chinese vessels for three months last year in Benham Rise, a vast area declared by the UN as part of the Philippines’ continental shelf.
“I am disturbed by China’s presence there, it is annoying if they will claim the area,” he told Reuters.
Lorenzana earlier gave a presentation to media showing where Chinese vessels had been and said he was suspicious of its activities to the east, because China had never laid claim to those waters.
He told reporters he had received information suggesting China may have been surveying water depths to prepare submarine routes to the Pacific. He has told the navy to intercept vessels if they return.
The reported Chinese activity comes as the two countries seek to forge closer trade and investment ties under Duterte after years of bickering and mistrust, mostly over the South China Sea.