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MANILA, Philippines – As the martial law declaration on Mindanao expires on Saturday, July 22, President Rodrigo Duterte asks both branches of Congress to extend martial law until December 31. Foreign fighters, including 20 Indonesians, joined the insurrection, which officials and researchers say received funding locally and from IS in Syria that was coordinated by a Malaysian known as Mahmud bin Ahmad. Duterte imposed 60-day martial rule -- the maximum period allowed by the constitution -- over the Mindanao region on May 23 within hours of the gunmen beginning their rampage. On Saturday, the Philippine Congress overwhelmingly approved the President Rodrigo Duterte’s appeal for martial law in the south to be extended to the end of the year to help troops quell the two-month siege by the militants and stamp out similar extremist plots in the volatile region. But martial law remains a sensitive issue in the Philippines as it brings back memories of human rights abuses that occurred in the 1970s under the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. About a dozen protesters in the gallery interrupted yesterday's hearing, chanting "never again, never again to martial law" before they were escorted out.
After seven hours of debate, the joint special session of the Congress of the Philippines votes 261–18 in favour of the motion to extend Proclamation No. 216 (martial law on the whole of Mindanao in response to the Marawi crisis), that was set to expire 10 PM Philippine Standard Time, until the end of the year.