Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assured Friday declaration of martial law in Mindanao may be lifted in the middle of 2019 if the situation improves.

This after Lorenzana recommended the extension of martial law in Mindanao to President Rodrigo Duterte who requested Congress to extend military rule for one more year.

"We can see if the situation became better by middle of next year. We will look at the situation again and will make necessary recommendations," Lorenzana said in an ambush interview at a forum in Makati City.

Lorenzana said security forces seem to be loose that's why they need martial law to become stricter.

He said the third extension of martial law will be effective.

"I assure you since we will place another division in Jolo," he said.

During his speech, Lorenzana said since the declaration of martial law in Mindanao in May 23, 2017, they observed that capabilities of threat groups have been significantly degraded.

"There were less threat-initiated violence and less kidnapping. Several guerrilla fronts were cleared and firearms recovered. Vital infrastructure were secured and government has gained positive public perception," he said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines neutralized a total of 3,255 threat personalities from various groups. Around 143 were arrested with 65 charged in court while 71 were released.

Authorities were able to recover 8,456 firearms.

Joint operations with police resulted in 2,138 apprehended offenders in 293,213 mobile and temporary checkpoints. They were able to confiscate 13.17 kilos of shabu.

But Lorenzana said communist rebels were still able to mount 584 atrocities and attack while Muslim extremists conducted 247 incidents, including harassment, improvised bomb and landmine explosion, grenade throwing and kidnapping.

He said the martial law under the Duterte administration is different from the Marcos regime as there are no complaints of abuse and human rights violations. Ella Dionisio/DMS