1 Samuel 9:16 NASB
, 16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over My people Israel; and he will deliver My people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have regarded My people, because their cry has come to Me.
In the previous texts we are told about how the Israelites defeated the Philistines and they never bothered them anymore
1 Samuel 7:13 NASB
13 So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
Again in another text they had cried for a king
1 Samuel 8:4 NASB
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; 5 and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.”
Is the cry about Philistines or their need for a king?