MARAWI: Philippine forces found the bodies of what appeared to be eight executed civilians as authorities launched fresh air strikes Sunday to drive militants linked to Daesh out of a besieged southern city. The death toll from six days of fighting neared 100.
The crisis in Marawi, home to some 200,000 people, has grown increasingly dire as the militants show unexpected tenacity, fending off a military that has unleashed attack helicopters, armoured vehicles and scores of soldiers.
The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday to declare 60 days of martial law in the southern Philippines, where a Muslim separatist rebellion has raged for decades. But the recent bloodshed in Marawi has raised fears that extremism is growing as smaller militant groups unify and align themselves with Daesh.
Duterte has said he will ignore the Supreme Court and congress as he enforces martial law across the southern third of the country, even though the constitution gives them oversight.
“Until the police and the armed forces say the Philippines is safe, this martial law will continue. I will not listen to others. The Supreme Court, congress, they are not here,” Duterte told soldiers on Saturday.
“Are they the ones dying and losing blood, bleeding, haemorrhaging because there is no help, no reinforcement? It’s not them.”
The 1987 constitution imposes limits on martial law to prevent a repeat of the abuses under dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was deposed by a famous ‘People Power’ revolution the previous year.
The charter requires the president to submit a report to congress on why martial law has been declared.
Congress can then revoke a president’s declaration of martial law, which is limited to 60 days. If a president decides to extend martial law, congress can again review and revoke.
But Duterte threatened to ignore the mechanisms in place for extension.
“They say after 60 days I should go to congress: I don’t know,” he said.
The Supreme Court can also rule on martial law’s legality if a case is filed before it, but Duterte said the judges would not understand the situation.
“The Supreme Court will say they will examine into the factual [basis]. Why, I don’t know. They are not soldiers. They do not know what is happening on the ground,” Duterte said Saturday on Jolo, a southern island that is under martial law.
Much of the Marawi city is a no-go zone, but as the military advances and more civilians escape, the scope of the battle is becoming clear.
Thousands of civilians have streamed out of Marawi and more than 2,000 were still trapped inside the city. Many sent desperate text messages begging to be rescued and reporting that their homes had been destroyed, said Zia Alonto Adiong, an official in Lanao del Sur, one of the country’s poorest provinces.
“Have mercy on us, we don’t have any more water to drink,” read one of the messages, sent to a hotline set up for trapped residents.
