Philippines may declare martial law next week to combat communist rebels, says defence chief
President Rodrigo Duterte said to have made the threat ahead of mass pro-democracy demonstration
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Your support makes all the difference.Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte could declare martial law across the country next week to try to quell protests by left wing rebels, his defence secretary has said.
Opposition demonstrators are expected to gather in the country's capital Manila and elsewhere to mark the 45-year anniversary of the imposition of martial law by the country's former dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
Recounting a conversation with his president, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, quoted Mr Duterte as saying: "'If the left will try to have a massive protest, they'll ignite fires in the street, they will disrupt the country, then I might (delcare martial law)."
Mr Lorenzana stressed that the President did not believe it would be necessary for the army to seize control of the country, because he doubted the protests would be as large as organisers had planned.
“But the president is indeed very concerned because it might get out of hand. So he said I might declare martial law," he added.
The Movement Against Tyranny, an alliance of protest groups, said on its Facebook page its aim was to "unite all freedom loving Filipinos against tyranny and build a broad front to counter the increasing fascism and militarist rule of the Duterte government".
It opposes the ongoing war on drugs, which has resulted in the killing of thousands of people in the past 15 months. Hundreds of others have died in unexplained circumstances.
The coalition criticised Mr Duterte's vocal support for Marcos, who was overthrown by a revolutionary movement in 1986 and died in exile three years later.
The President recently declared Marcos's birthday, 11 September, a public holiday in Ilocos Norte province in the north of the country. Defending the decision, he said: "What's wrong? He was a president. to the Ilocanos he was the greatest president."
Filipinos are largely supportive of Mr Duterte's crackdown on drugs and it is seen as a solution to high crime levels.
During last year's presidential election campaign, Mr Duterte vowed to launch an unprecedented crackdown on illegal drugs by killing up to 100,000 traffickers and addicts.
The Philippines is set to slash the budget of its human rights organisation to 1,000 pesos, or £15. Critics said the move was punishment for the body's attempts to investigate the killings of thousands of people in the country.
Mr Duterte imposed martial law across a large region in the south of the country in May after Isis supporters occupied the city of Malawi.
He has repeatedly threatened to impose martial law nationwide, but he has never given a specific timeline or indicated what would prompt it.
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