MANILA: Calling it a “hotbed of rebellion,” President Rodrigo “Rody” Duterte asked Congress to extend martial law for another year in troubled Mindanao, citing threats from Daesh-linked local terror groups and communist insurgents.

Duterte sought the extension for another year that is to end on Dec.31, 2018 in a letter addressed to Congress, which Malacanang Palace released to media on Monday.

The extension, Duterte said, aims to”ensure that the eradication of Daesh inspired a Awaful Islamiyah Mairiq, other like-minded local and foreign terror groups and armed lawless groups, the communist terrorists and their coddlers, supporters and financiers.” The letter was addressed to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel and House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez who agreed to meet in a joint session of Congress to tackle the proposal.

According to Duterte, he sought the extension based on separate security assessments in Mindanao by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

He disclosed that Daesh-linked groups have been actively recruiting new members particularly in Maguindanao, North Cotabato, Sulu and Basilan.

“The activities,” Duterte stressed, “are geared towards the conduct of intensified atrocities and armed public uprisings in support of their objective of establishing the foundation of global caliphate and a Wilayat not only in the Philippines but also on the whole of Southeast Asia.”

Malacanang Palace officials earlier said that Duterte might call a special session of the Senate and the House, dominated by the president’s political allies.

However, Congressman Rodolfo Farinas of Ilocos Norte province in Northern Luzon, the House majority leader, assured there was no need for Duterte to call a special session on the issue.

Farinas disclosed Congress would tackle the extension request on Dec.14, a day before the House and the Senate are to go on their annual Christmas break on Dec.15.

On Dec.13, AFP and police officials, as well as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, appointed by Duterte as the Mindanao martial law administrator, were also invited to brief the House and Senate leaders on the issue, according to Farinas.