Martial Law has no discernible impact to the economy
NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) officials downplayed concerns that the extension of Martial Law in Mindanao might be detrimental to the economy.
According to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Martial Law’s effect would be “neutral at most”.
Rosemarie Edillon said that it would be hard to project the impact of the declaration in Mindanao. According to Edillon, it seems that it has “really no discernible impact” in terms of tourism, inflation, and construction. She said that there was even a slight decline in inflation. She compared it to January to May (before Martial Law) and June to November (after the Martial Law declaration). She also mentioned that in Luzon and Visayas, the inflation levels did not change.
Edillon mentioned that there was an improvement in the investment indicators in Mindanao compared to Luzon and Visayas. According to her, there was a slight uptick after the Martial Law declaration in Mindanao because of Davao City, which according to her is an indication that investors were able to isolate the Marawi Crisis.
In a joint session in Congress, the extension of martial law in Mindanao until December 2018 was approved. After 4 hours of deliberation, the results were in favor of the extension (240-27). This is the second extension of martial law in Mindanao.
