‘Murphy’s Law’

Murphy’s law is defined simply as a rule that states: “If something can go wrong, it will.” An addition to this law reads, “and usually at the worst time.” As to who is “Murphy,” his identity is unknown. However, “Murphy’s law” traces its roots that is said to have started to be used during the 1940’s. It is widely believed it may have originated with members of the armed forces during World War II.

The original “Murphy’s Law” is: “If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.”  Murphy’s law is sometimes expressed as “Anything that can go wrong, will – at the worst possible moment.”

President Rodrigo Duterte adverted to “Murphy’s law” during his “Talk to the Troops,” a day after at least eleven of Army soldiers were killed by the so-called “friendly fire” last May 31. As their Commander-in-chief, President Duterte immediately went out his way to condole with the families and relatives as well as fellow troopers of the fallen soldiers.

Ignoring personal safety, the 72-year old President flew as close as to the battlegrounds where government troopers are trying to flush out the Maute terrorists from their strongholds in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur. The President also visited the wounded soldiers at Camp Evangelista Station Hospital at the 4th Infantry Division in Cagayan de Oro on June 2.

Doing his usual pep talk with the soldiers, including some of the families and relatives of slain soldiers in the on-going military offensive in Marawi City, the President tried to explain how such un-intentional mistake could happen in the heat of the battle.

“And then there is what you would call the Murphy’s Law.  The Murphy’s law states that if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. Pag posible ba itong mangyari, mangyayari talaga ‘yan,” President Duterte said and translating the same to his audience.

“We are sorry that it happened. And I hope that this will not be repeated. But there is no guarantee. Any war, everything is stretched and it can break any moment,” the President pointed out.

Again, President Duterte reiterated, he takes full responsibility even for this “friendly fire” incident that happened in the course of implementing the orders of the Commander-in-chief to crush the siege laid in Marawi by Islamic State (IS)-inspired Maute bandits.

“I will not hesitate the armed might of the Republic of the Philippines, the Armed Forces, to use every power available in their hand to quell the rebellion and terrorism,” the President vowed. But he hastily added his own mis-givings: “It is a very sad commentary. But this thing will happen again and again and again.”

The unfortunate “friendly fire” incident happened while a Marchetti SF-260 aircraft was on a bombing run over militant positions in Marawi City. One bomb hit an Army position locked in close-range combat with the Maute and Abu Sayyaf extremists.

Friendly fire, as defined in Wikipedia, is an attack by a military force on a non-enemy, own, allied or neutral, forces while attempting to attack the enemy, either by misidentifying the target as hostile, or due to errors or inaccuracy.

“So those bombings were under my orders and I will account for it,” the President cited as these were carried out during the martial law implementation in Marawi and elsewhere in Mindanao under Proclamation 216 he issued last May 22. The President’s designated martial law administrator Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana quickly ordered an investigation into the “friendly fire” incident as it involved two warplanes of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), one of which errantly hit the government forces on the ground.

Having been in combat field during his active military service, Lorenzana initially theorized either those on the plane or those coordinating from the ground made the faulty call during the air strike operation. Precision-guided bombs were supposedly being used earlier in airstrikes in areas where Maute jihadists were suspected to be in hiding and holding forts.

Taking place on the second week of the Maute siege, Lorenzana admitted, the military has already ran out of the high-tech munitions. And for that fateful bombing run, the PAF is using already conventional munitions.

“Sometimes, in the fog of war, a lot of things could happen,” the martial law administrator waxed philosophically.

For a brief while, air strikes were suspended after this “friendly fire” incident. But the AFP resumed its full attack, including air strikes in a quick recovery from this un-intended setback. If it is any consolation, Lorenzana cited, the May 31 “friendly fire” incident was the first time for the AFP to encounter such tragic accident.

Getting on its first month of implementation, martial law in Mindanao enabled vigilant government forces to capture Cayamora Maute, the patriarch of Maute brothers Omar and Abdullah. The Maute patriarch and his three companions in a vehicle were nabbed at Army-led Task Force Davao checkpoint while trying to enter Davao City.

They were obviously trying to escape the military clearing operations in Marawi. Alert policemen under the command of Southern Police Regional Office head, Chief Superintendent Manny Gaerlan were able to identify them from the watch list they keep at the checkpoint.

The elder Maute is facing five kidnapping charges in Marawi. Although there is no warrant of arrest against the elder Maute, a hand grenade and a .45 caliber pistol were found in his possession inside the vehicle when caught at the checkpoint.

Gaerlan is not taking any chances now that they have captured such a high-value prisoner. Given the track record of Maute bandits of daring raids on provincial jails to free their detained comrades, Gaerlan sneaked out from Davao the elder Maute. At the wee hours last Thursday, the elder Maute was flown to Manila.

The Maute patriarch was brought to one of the most secured detention centers at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City where many of the Abu Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom bandits were being jailed. Make no mistake about it but jailed Abus tried but died trying to escape from that camp in the past.

Like President Duterte, may we also invoke the same “Murphy’s law” to an erroneous spelling of Gaerlan that appeared at The STAR headline news last week on the capture of the Maute patriarch. The surname of Gaerlan became “Garland” due to an automatic spell-check of the Microsoft software. Our deep apologies, sir.