Filipino President: Entire Country May Soon Be Under Martial Law

Martial law has been established in several Filipino islands after an attempted takeover by Islamist militants. Now, the country’s president is threatening to expand the zone controlled by martial law.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said his martial law declaration for the country’s restive south could be expanded “throughout the country” in order to combat the rise of ISIS.

“If I think that the ISIS has already taken foothold also in Luzon and terrorism is not really far behind, I might declare martial law throughout the country to protect the people,” said the President, at a news conference in Manila, Wednesday.

“I had to declare martial law in the Mindanao group of islands,” said Duterte, who cut short a visit to Russia to come home to deal with the violence. “It is our constitutional duty to enforce the law and provide security.”

The current martial law order — which covers both the city of Marawi and the wider island of Mindanao, of which Marawi is a part — came after deadly clashes broke out between Filipino government troops and Islamist militants Tuesday.

Watch a video that describes the Filipino chaos below:

Photo: Wikicommons