MANILA — President Marcos has lifted the state of national emergency driven by lawless violence in Mindanao, citing the improved peace and order situation in the region.
The status, declared by former president Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, was lifted through Proclamation No. 298 signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin by authority of the President last July 25.
“Through successful focused military and law enforcement operations and programs that promote sustainable and inclusive peace, the government has made significant gains in improving and restoring peace and order in the region,” the proclamation read.
Duterte declared the state of national emergency through Proclamation No. 55 dated Sept. 4, 2016. According to the former president, Mindanao “has had a long and complex history of lawless violence perpetrated by private armies and local warlords, bandits and criminal syndicates, terrorist groups, and religious extremists.”
Duterte said there was “a spate of violent and lawless acts across many parts of Mindanao,” including abductions, hostage-takings and murder of innocent civilians, bombing of power transmission facilities, highway robberies and extortions, attacks on military outposts, assassinations of media people and mass jailbreaks.
He had directed the military and the police to undertake measures permitted by the Constitution and existing laws to suppress all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao and to prevent them from spreading elsewhere in the Philippines while giving due regard to citizens’ rights.
Marcos said the prevailing conditions for which Proclamation No. 55 was issued “have been significantly mitigated or reduced.”
“The lifting of Proclamation No. 55… will boost economic activity and hasten the recovery of the local economy,” the President added. (philstar)
