Text and video of Proclamation No. 55 Series of 2016 9/7/2016

Signed on September 4, 2016

MALACAÑAN
PALACE

MANILA

PROCLAMATION
NO. 55

DECLARING
A STATE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY

ON ACCOUNT OF LAWLESS VIOLENCE IN MINDANAO

WHEREAS, Mindanao has had a long and complex history of
lawless violence perpetrated by private armies and local warlords, bandits and
criminal syndicates, terrorist groups, and religious extremists;

WHEREAS, in recent months, there has been a spate of
violent and lawless acts across many parts of Mindanao, including abductions,
hostage-takings and murder of innocent civilians, bombing of power transmission
facilities, highway robberies and extortions, attacks on military outposts,
assassinations media people and mass jailbreaks;

WHEREAS, the valiant efforts of our police and armed
forced to quell this armed lawlessness have been met with stiff resistance,
resulting in several casualties on the part of government forces, the most
recent of which was the death of 15 soldiers in a skirmish with the Abu Sayyaf
Group in Patikul, Sulu on 30 August 2016;

WHEREAS, on the night of 2 September 2016, at least 14
people were killed and 67 others were seriously injured in a bombing incident
in a night market in Davao City, perpetrated by still unidentified law less
elements;

WHEREAS, the foregoing acts of violence exhibit the
audacity and propensity of these armed lawless groups to defy the rule of law,
sow anarchy, and sabotage the government’s economic development and peace
efforts;

WHEREAS, based on government intelligence reports, there
exist credible threats of further terror attacks and other similar acts of
violence by lawless elements in other parts of the country, including the
metropolitan areas;

WHEREAS, under Section 18, Article VII of the
Constitution, the President, as the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces of
the Philippines, may call out such armed forces whenever it becomes necessary
to prevent or suppress lawless violence.

NOW THEREFORE, I, RODRIGO ROA DUTERTE,
President of the Republic of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested
upon me by Section 18, Article VII of the Philippine Constitution, do herby
proclaim a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence, and
hereby command the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National
Police to undertake such measures as may be permitted by the Constitution and
existing laws to suppress any and all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao and
to prevent such lawless violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere in the
Philippines, with due regard to the fundamental civil and political rights of our
citizens.

This proclamation of a state of
national emergency on account of lawless violence shall remain in force and
effect until lifted or withdrawn by the President.

4 September 2016.

(Sgd.) President Rodrigo Roa Duterte

By the President:

(Sgd.) SALVADOR C. MEDIALDEA

Executive Secretary