President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law in Mindanao last Tuesday after the Islamist terror group Maute attacked the Muslim-majority city of Marawi, occupying or burning several structures and taking hostages. Lorenzana reiterated that martial law won’t target the NPA, and that the AFP would “fully comply” with the President’s directives. The DND has released its martial law guidelines stating that the AFP would abide by the rule of law and respect human rights. “We will fully comply with the directives of the President that martial law was declared to address radical Islamic terrorism and narco-terrorism in Mindanao. “We would like to make it clear that in the implementation of Martial Law in Mindanao, the [AFP] will not specifically target the New People’s Army,” he added.

Source: Manila Times May 27, 2017 16:07 UTC