QUEZON City, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs has allayed some concerns of members of the diplomatic corps amid the martial law declaration in Mindanao.
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano invited the diplomats to a closed-door meeting recently for this.
“There were questions, just like the questions of the Philippine media, why the whole Mindanao, How long, what is the scope, how powerful is this group and everything. And we tried to simplify. Many of these countries have had their own challenges with terror attacks. And some of these countries have had areas were terrorist groups have had bases or have some influence. So they do understand in a situation like this what we’re trying to avoid is yung tinatawag ko na parang ‘domino effect’” Cayetano said.
He said he “assured (the diplomats) that the government is pooling its resources not only in the military side of addressing rebellion but also on the socio-economic side of showing each and every Filipino na mahal sila ng Pilipinas.”
After the briefing, the DFA chief said that diplomats offered humanitarian assistance as soon as Marawi City returns to normalcy.
Maute failed
On another note, Cayetano said that the Maute Group tried to get the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Moro National Liberation Front and other groups “that have been fighting for justice or against historical injustice in Mindanao” to join them in an all-out war in Mindanao.
“And we thank the different groups, MILF, MNLF and different groups who are peace partners now for sticking it out with the vision for autonomy and then later on for a federal form of government,” Cayetano said.
“The ISIS group is failing in trying to attract the bigger groups that have been fighting for justice or against historical injustice in Mindanao,” he added.
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