EDITORIAL - Martial law. You asked for it, you got it

Before the usual bleeding hearts see the declaration of martial law over the whole of Mindanao as another opportunity to undermine the president, let them be clarified that there is no political purpose whatsoever in the declaration. This martial law is not what it was meant to be at a previous time, which was to perpetuate someone in power despite the objections of many.

This time around, martial law has a specific purpose, and that is to quell the rampage in Marawi City of a group of bandits that is desperately trying to get the attention and official recognition of Isis in the Middle East. These bandits, who call themselves the Maute group, have for the last couple of years been copying Isis tactics, from the level of violence to the use of costumes and paraphernalia, to gain easier assimilation.

But the real Isis, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, has held back from bestowing full blessings on the Maute group, apparently due to its purely criminal background. Still, having unilaterally allied itself with Isis, the Maute group cannot live with the shame of rejection, especially before the eyes of competing groups in Mindanao. It had to force its recognition by hook or by crook.

Hence the bold step taken in Marawi. The Maute group wants to parade itself before the world the way young brats make a spectacle of themselves to attract the attention they so desperately seek. At least in their Marawi caper, they caught Philippine government security forces flat-footed. In a terrible lapse of intelligence and anticipation, the military and the police never expected such a ragtag group of hooligans to actually try and take down a fairly-sized populated area.

On the other hand, the Maute group did not anticipate it could provoke the government enough for it to declare martial law. Apparently they did not research Rodrigo Duterte enough, or had not been paying attention. If they are the little brats on the street, Duterte is the thug just around the corner. Now the Maute group will have its hands full. And along with the process, so will the other pesky groups causing trouble in the beautiful land of Mindanao.

The Maute group has just given Duterte the tool to wipe them out. They completely underestimated the man, perhaps because he himself has been bending over backward to all sorts of provocations from a wide variety of groups. The Philippines has been trying for so long to move ahead with its progress and development but has been held back by different groups trying to pursue their own agendas. Duterte has had enough. He needs this chance. He needs popular support.