Duterte on Tuesday night placed all of the southern region of Mindanao, which makes up roughly one third of the country and is home to 20 million people, under martial law, following deadly clashes between security forces and Islamist militants. President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday martial law in the southern region of Mindanao could last a year, as he vowed it would be similar to the late Ferdinand Marcos’s dictatorship. On Tuesday, militants from the Maute group — an organization linked to the Islamic State — had captured Marawi, a city with a population of 200,000 people, and laid siege on a hospital for hours, and set a church, a college and the city’s prison to fire, while holding over 10 people hostage. Lorenzana said the confrontation opened at about 2 p.m. Tuesday, when government forces attempted to arrest a senior leader of the Abu Sayyaf Group, an extremist organization with ties to the Islamic State. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that the martial law imposed in the southern island of Mindanao, might also be extended to the rest of the country if the terror threat escalates

Duterte announced the measure on Tuesday night after militants attacked the city of Marawi in Mindanao, killing three and wounding over 10. “By virtue of the powers vested in me and the constitution and the law, I had to declare martial law in the Mindanao group of island for a period of not more than 60 days, effective May 23, 2017,” Duterte said.
President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in the island of Mindanao after Maute militants clash with army troops in Marawi, Lanao del Sur.