Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella (Robby Joy D. Salveron/davaotoday.com)
DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The additional 20,000 troops requested by President Rodrigo Duterte is part of the country’s intensified security posture to guard Philippine territory against continuing security threats.
This was clarified by Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Monday.
Abella said the deployment of troops to Marawi and other points in Mindanao needs to be rebalanced to ensure maximum effectiveness.
Duterte recently asked Congress to approve the recruitment of 20,000 more soldiers to counter the continuing threats in the country.
Among the factors cited by the President is the continuing crisis in Marawi that has already killed more than 500 people.
August 7, Monday mark the 77th day into Marawi siege as the military continue its ground and air assaults in the area.
In a press briefing in Malacañang on Monday, Abella said 528 members of Maute are already killed since day one of the fighting, a total of 603 firearms are already recovered by government troopers.
A total of 45 civilians already killed while 1,728 trapped residents were already rescued from the war-torn areas of Marawi.
Abella said 122 government troopers are already killed as the fighting in Marawi continues.
In the same press conference on Monday, Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restitutio Padilla, Jr. told reporters that the 20,000 additional troops are part of their request since last year.
“If you will recall, even a year ago, there was already a request on the part of the Chief of Staff to add about 10,000 initially. And we were fortunate to have a very good listening ear on the part of the President and he relented and approved it and gave initial budget to start the recruitment. So, the total number, however, is actually 20,000, iyon ang request natin,” Padilla said.
He also confirmed the presence of new security threats that Duterte mentioned during his meeting with lawmakers in Malacañang last week but clarified that most of the threats are coming from the remnants of local terrorist groups that have been engaged directly by the government in recent months.
The groups, Padilla added, include the Maute in Marawi, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters in Maguindanao, the Abu Sayyaf Group and the other local terrorist groups that he did not specify.
“The sizeable force that we faced in Marawi was the combining of forces of these local terrorist groups. So this is not far-fetched that some of their members who are still remaining in the island of Mindanao will want to join forces again to create trouble in certain areas,” he said.
Padilla said remnants of the local terrorist groups are still active and the areas that will be on tight watch by the security forces will include, the Lanao provinces, Maguindanao, Cotabato, the areas of Zamboanga del Sur and the Sulu archipelago. (davaotoday.com)
