SONA 2020

Duterte taps AFP for internal security in barangays, vows protection from abuses

President Rodrigo Duterte said the participation of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in the whole-of-nation approach of assuring internal security at the local levels is important to usher in peace, order, and development in the countryside.

"We need to provide intervention and implement the barangay development program. This refers to a program where the Armed Forces would play a vital role in the one nation approach," he said during his fifth State of the Nation Address.

"I am aware of the skirmishes and assassination of soldiers and I said correct this so that we can proceed with the barangay implementation as fast as possible," he added.

Further, Duterte expressed optimism in this endeavor as he claimed that there had been no violence in the implementation of martial law in Mindanao.

"Martial Law in Mindanao ended without abuses by the civilian sector, by the police, by the military," he said, drawing applause from lawmakers in Batasang Pambansa.

The martial law in Mindanao in the southern part of the country ended on December 31, 2019—more than two years after it was declared by Duterte in May 2017 when the Maute group occupied Marawi City. Its implementation in the region was extended thrice.

The state of national emergency on account of lawless violence, nonetheless, has been retained in Mindanao even though martial law was lifted. — DVM, GMA News