A month after President Rodrigo Duterte placed Mindanao under martial law and suspended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, Mindanao is a mess with no end in sight to its problems with terrorism, analysts said.
Retired police officer Rodolfo “Boogie” Mendoza, who is now the president of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence, and Terrorism Research, doesn’t see any end soon to the conflict in Marawi City.
“Hindi pa natin nakikita na magkakaroon ng rapid conclusion kasi mag-isang buwan ngayon, ‘di pa tapos ang kampanya, so ang effectivity niyan ay masusukat lang natin kung meron talagang broad support ang tao sa Mindanao,” he said.
(We haven’t seen if there would be any rapid conclusion because it’s only been a month, the campaign isn’t over yet, so the effectivity can only be measured if there’s broad support from the people of Mindanao.)
Opposition lawmaker Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who has asked the Supreme Court to nullify the martial law declaration in Mindanao, said military rule made things worse.
“There is extreme misery and horrific conditions particularly in Marawi because of the extensive inordinate show of might of the military, the police authorities, which has really displaced tens of thousands of civilians not to mention destruction of private public properties and loss of lives,” he said.
Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate, an administration ally who was part of a recent humanitarian mission to Mindanao, is among those who have called for a congressional investigation on the plight of the evacuees and those displaced by martial law. “There is now a grave humanitarian crisis in Marawi and Lanao del Sur,” he said.
Mendoza said the goal of containing terrorism in the area has yet to be achieved.
It’s a view Lagman shares. He said the problem of terrorism persists in Mindanao despite martial law. ” These terrorist leaders have not been captured or arrested,” he said.
Mendoza believes thinks the raging battle in Mindanao has gotten messy.
Lagman said the situation could have been avoided since terrorism by the Maute group could have been addressed without martial law. He said there was no factual basis for military rule, an argument he made before the Supreme Court.
“I cannot understand a policy of destroy and compensate because in the face of all of these destruction, we have the president doling out cash to civilian casualties and displaced people and at the same time the government is expected to appropriate P10 billion to rehabilitate Marawi City,” he said.
Political analyst Ranjit Rye said the problems in Mindanao are too complicated to be addressed by martial law. “The discourse has really focused on whether there’s factual basis. I don’t want to comment on that because the Supreme Court will decide very soon on this very divisive issue. It seems there was basis to use this prerogative and the problem of violent extremism in Mindanao is far more complex than what people like us perceive initially.”
Mendoza said one complication is that people in Mindanao are largely related by kinship, including the terrorists. “Iyung Philippine context, kahit sa ibang bansa very, very important iyung sinasabing kinship, clan, they feel iyung effect ng caliphate system ay appropriate sa kanilang interest mahirap alisin ‘yun at this period.”
Zarate said the elders of Mindanao’s different communities want a return to the old ways of resolving disputes which considers the culture of the residents. “They would rather na i-try ng mga elders dahil iba diyan ay mga relatives nila rather than extreme na flattened ‘yung kanilang city.”
(They would rather that the elders try [the old ways] because some of them have relatives, so they don’t want the extreme which would flatten their city.)
Mendoza, meanwhile, doubts martial law enjoys broad support in Mindanao. “Dapat suriin iyan kung meron talagang broad support ang martial law sa Mindanao kasi ang nakikita ko, nakikita ng aming institute, ay sharply divided ang opinion ng tao sa Mindanao. May pro martial law, may anti martial law.”
(They should investigate if there’s really broad support for martial law in Mindanao because from what I see, from what our Institute sees, the opinion of the people in Mindanao is sharply divided. There are pro-martial law, and there are anti-martial law.)
Palace: Martial law a success
Malacañang on Friday however said the declaration of martial law in Mindanao succeeded in preventing the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) from establishing a base in the Philippines, even as government troops continued to battle the group’s sympathizers in Marawi City.
“We don’t go by ratings, but we do say we actually preempted the establishment of a wilayat (Islamic State province) [in Mindanao],” Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a press briefing in Davao City.
Duterte placed the entire Mindanao under a 60-day martial rule on May 23, after the ISIS-linked terror groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf laid siege to the predominantly Muslim City of about 200,000.
In justifying his declaration, Duterte said the terror groups were planning to establish an Islamic State province in Mindanao as part of the international terror group’s caliphate in Southeast Asia.
Brigadier General Gilbert Gapay, deputy commander of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command and the martial law spokesperson, said the military has so far managed to prevent a spillover of violence in Marawi City to other areas in Mindanao.
“The said success is attributed to the aggressive security operations of our units, the tightened security measures being implemented in the area, the active coordination and collaboration of other law enforcement agencies, local government units, and the support of the general public,” he said.
Gapay also stressed that the military was abiding by the rules of engagement and continued to respect human rights amid offensives under martial rule.
“As we enter the second month of implementation, we’d like to assure the public that we shall continue to work for the safety and security of everyone, as mandated to us, with utmost respect [for] human rights and the rule of law,” he said.
Three petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court seeking the nullification of Duterte’s martial law proclamation. The petitioners say the declaration over all of Mindanao was not necessary as the conflict is only confined in Marawi.
Story: RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News
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