EDITORIAL - Old fears, new challenges don't mix

At about the same time that Marawi exploded in our collective consciousness, there was Manchester, and then Jakarta shortly thereafter, followed by Egypt. In all of these places, one name leaps out with a chilling commonality –Isis, and the mayhem it represents. With such reality at hand, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte responded quickly, placing the whole of Mindanao, where Marawi is, under martial rule.

But instead of applauding the president for his swift and decisive action, or at least leaving him alone as leader to do what is best for the country, some Filipinos went to town castigating him. Their only compelling reason for doing so? They continue to be spooked by some long-ago martial law. They continue to dwell in the past, unmindful of the specter of real and far greater terror staring them in the face.

With all due respect to what they may have suffered in the past, it is too self-serving, greedy even, to force the national leadership to shape its reaction to clear and present danger to the amorphous ghosts of yesteryears. For while past experiences may not be forgotten, as in fact they might be learned from, circumstances of the present do require fresh perspectives, even if at times they may hark to similar formulas.

To say that the Duterte martial law will be abusive and likely to violate human rights is to put the cart before the horse. Why, martial law has not even been implemented yet in all its expected might and fullness, and these certain Filipinos are already crying foul. Had this been basketball, they would be flopping all over the place. What a shame.

Terrorism is a real, global and creeping threat. No country is ever safe from it, and those who continue to ignore that reality are being recklessly naive. They cannot and must not be allowed to force their kind of mentality that was shaped by a different set of circumstances to tailor a country's response to new security challenges that terrorism presents.

A country that allows itself to be forever hobbled by a particular fear is a country that is forever afraid to meet other challenges. A country thus deprived the opportunity to test and perchance surmount such challenges is a country that stagnates. Refusing to go out and face the world, it will eventually turn inward and consume its own self. First it will consume its leaders. Then its communities. Finally, its own families.