26 May, 2017
President Rodrigo Duterte, who had declared martial law across the southern third of the nation, warned he may expand it nationwide.
Philippine troops using tanks and helicopters stormed the southern city of Marawi on Thursday (May 25) in an effort to defeat militants linked to the Islamic State (IS) who have besieged the city for days, setting fire to buildings and taking hostages.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), in a statement in its website philippiinerevolution.info Wednesday, directed the New People's Army (NPA) to carry out more offensives in the country following President Duterte's proclamation of martial law in Mindanao.
Philippine government forces launched "precision attacks" Thursday to clear militants linked to the Islamic State group from a southern city that has been under siege since a raid to capture a militant on the USA list of most-wanted terrorists failed.
Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the militants forced their way into a cathedral in Marawi and seized a priest, 10 worshippers and three church workers.
The militants took Father Teresito Suganob, together with the church's secretary, a professor, two working students and a number of parishioners and brought them to an undisclosed location.
The fighting erupted on Tuesday after security forces raided a house where they believed Isnilon Hapilon, a leader of the infamous Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom gang and Philippine head of IS, was hiding.
While most of Marawi's residents had already fled the city, local military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jo-Ar Herrera urged remaining civilians to find refuge as the military launched "surgical airstrikes".
So far, the military said five army soldiers and two police officers have been killed and at least 33 others wounded in the ongoing clashes.
Human rights groups are concerned about possible abuses by the military and police in places under martial rule, but Duterte has insisted he will not allow that to happen.
"I am for the imposition of martial law provided a mechanism has to be established so that human rights will not be violated", he continued.
Much of Marawi was still a no-go zone. Thousands of civilians are reported to have fled the city. "If I think that you should die, you will die", he said Wednesday.
He said there may have been confusion because a former Malabang police chief was killed in the fighting - but he was not beheaded.
FORMER President Fidel Ramos on Friday said the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte should not entertain the idea of expanding martial law in the Visayas and other parts of the country.
"At night we can hear the gunfire", said Mohammad Usman, who watched from his home just outside Marawi as thousands of residents streamed out of the city.
Vowing to be "harsh", he said: 'We are in a state of emergency. if you fight us, you will die. He said troops had isolated the guerrillas but were not engaging them, and that the rebels were posting images on social media to make known their sustained presence in Marawi.
"The Philippines is facing a unsafe group with more solid worldwide connections", security expert Rommel Banlaoi said of the Maute.
"Martial law of Mr Marcos was very good", Duterte said.
According to local reports, members of the militant so-called Maute group murdered the group by a check-point after they were identified as Christian.
