PCV notes that experts have increasing called for the U.S. to be cognizant of the spread of ISIS and similar groups to the Asia Pacific following their battlefield setbacks in the Middle East. Martial law was last declared in Mindanao in 2009.
May 24, 2017
‘Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he might expand martial law nationwide if violence currently confined to the south spreads to the main island of Luzon.
“If I think ISIS has already taken control in Luzon and terrorism is not really far behind, I might declare martial law throughout the country,” Duterte said in a televised speech on Wednesday after arriving home from a curtailed visit to Russia.’