Authorities in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, have carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since the 2002 bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals that killed 202 people in Bali. Facing TV cameras, he pleaded to be allowed to enter the conflict zone to save his wife.
He declared martial law across Mindanao the day the fighting erupted.
"It already happened. The most important matter to us now is the remaining armed group in Marawi and the threat it carries coming from the bigger group in the Middle East", he said in response to questions if ever there were lapses committed by the government prior to the Marawi crisis.
Nearly the entire population of about 200,000 fled after the militants tried to overrun it, but the military believes that beyond the checkpoints now fencing off its main roads there are still some 300-600 civilians trapped or being held hostage.
"Frankly, my own position looking at what I've seen, what I've heard, it seems hard to overcome the presumption that the President had sufficient basis to declare martial law in Marawi", he said.
In the same press briefing, Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said clearing operations are in place, and only four out of 96 barangays in the city are considered "problematic areas.where focused military operations in urban terrain are now ongoing".
"We're helping based on what their administration wants and how and where the [Armed Forces of the Philippines] sees that we can fit in", she said.
There are six separate "black flag" groups in the southern Philippines that have pledged loyalty to Islamic State, the jihadi group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria, a terrorism expert told a House subcommittee last month. Most recently, M4 carbines, Glock pistols, M134D machine guns, grenade launchers and rubber maritime raiding craft were delivered, according to a June 5 news release from the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
"The Sulu Sea area has always had sporadic incidents like kidnappings of tourists before, but starting last year and this year, it has really gone up", Noel Chung, the Kuala Lumpur-based Asia head of the International Maritime Bureau, said.
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While Duterte has demanded USA troops leave the area in the past, he recently admitted that his stance against an American military presence in the country was unpopular among his troops.
"I would like to clarify that the Armed Forces will not bomb the mosque in the area", Mr. Padilla said.
He had first aid from colleagues at the scene, thinking he had been hit by some shrapnel, but when he sought medical attention the X-ray image made it clear he had been hit by a bullet.
He added, "I have to be thankful". Adam Harvey, who works for Australia's national public ABC, said: "Luckily it missed everything important and it just got lodged behind my jaw".
He was inside the provincial capitol compound where local and foreign journalists have congregated during the more than three weeks of fighting, Adiong told AFP.
An Australian television journalist was shot in the neck on Thursday as he reported from Marawi, but he did not suffer major injuries.
One of the keys to their survival has been the trapped civilians, who are acting as human shields in stopping the military from destroying the small areas controlled by the gunmen.
Brigadier-General Gilbert Gapay, spokesman for the military's Eastern Mindanao Command, said Mohammad Noaim Maute was a suspected bomb-maker for the group.
"Holy [expletive]", said Harvey.
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