150 days of war

At last after 150 days of battle, 47 civilians, 163 government troops, 847 militants dead, and 78,466 families or 359,680 persons displaced, the Maranaos are on their way to rebuilding their lives. But is the war really over?

Marawi is down to its last pebble, crushed to the ground. All these in exchange for the head of Isnilon Hapilon, a Filipino Islamist militant affiliated with ISIS and former leader of Abu Sayyaf group who was later appointed as “emir of all Islamic State forces in the Philippines. His partner Omar Khayam Maute a Moro militant who co-founded along with his brother Abdullah Maute, a Dawlah Islamiyah group in Mindanao, popularly known as the Maute group was also killed.

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Marawi is called the premier Muslim city of the Philippines. It is the capital and the only city in the province of Lanao del Sur in Mindanao. It is a predominantly Muslim city with 99.6 percent of the population being Muslims. Its economy is largely based on agriculture, trading and exporting. Most industries in the city are agriculture-based. Small and cottage-size enterprises are engaged in garment making, mat and malong weaving, wood carving, brassware making and blacksmithing.

Marawi is home to Mindanao State University’s main campus, the biggest state university in Mindanao, next to the University of the Philippines. The NPC – Agus 1 Hydro Electric Power Plant and the first of the six cascading Agus Hydro Power Plants are also there.

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The battle in Marawi began on May 23 when the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police tried to capture Isnilon Hapilon. Militants of the Maute group retaliated by launching an attack in Marawi. It was during this time that Hapilon was in Marawi with his supporters. The Maute group and Hapilon’s fighters armed with high-caliber firearms took a priest and his congregation hostage, freed prisoners from the local jail, and overran the city. The fighting persisted until nothing was left of Marawi. The government’s response was the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao.

Amidst the jubilation of victory over the Maute group by our military forces, there are some things that continue to bother me. How did the war last for 150 days? Where did the continuous supply of ammunition come from? How could such high-powered firearms get into the country unnoticed and worst unchecked? How could have the enemy survived that long?

I am dumbfoundd by how fast the Maute regrouped and replenished their firearms lost in fight. Who supplied them food and water? Were there powerful backers in the local scene? While our forces were diminishing in number and in strength, the enemies seemed to be gaining more ground, more power and more support. Shouldn’t our forces have the edge on this battle? Why did it take us 150 days? What is the truth behind the war in Marawi?

Why are many people from Luzon and from the Visayas unfazed with this war? Why do they seem unaffected? My father, the late Maximo V. Soliven, once wrote: Those of us who spent many years going back and forth, actually camping out in Matata, Jolo itself, and Tawi-Tawi), Zamboanga and Basilan (where my sister’s and her late husband’s rubber and copra plantation – now “taken” away from them after many decades of risk and hard labor in Galayan, Maluso, where, by the way, the Abu Sayyaf was “born”), in the Maranao hinterlands of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, in Maguindanao, and South Cotabato, aren’t speaking out of second-hand or textbook knowledge. But we’re still “outsiders.” We ultimately are from Luzon. Our kinfolk and friends who actually live there (my son-in-law’s family is third-generation) are the ones who know the score. Truly, we are still divided. Divided by culture and religion and we just do not care.

Our country has always had a history of invasions: Spanish, Japanese, American, Dutch, and the British. To this day, there are still outside forces that seem to want to rule over us. The sad reality is that we allow it and to a point almost want it.

When will we learn to love and protect our country even more? We need to send a strong message to everyone that we are not for sale. We should stop allowing foreigners to manipulate us. Our envoys should be incarcerated to death if they betray the country.

I’m glad the President put his foot down to fight and save Mindanao. What would have been the fate of this country if the ISIS group won over our troops in Marawi and raise that black flag over the city?

Now that Hapilon and Maute are dead, what is going to happen next? How true is it that Malaysian terrorist Amin Bacu is now the new leader of the 20 Maute-ISIS bandits who are still fighting the soldiers in a small part of Marawi City?

Our wish for a just and lasting peace in Mindanao cannot be based on the number of surrenders made by the enemy, the many compromises our government had to do that resulted to nothing, or the establishment of a “territory” only for Muslim people. As my father would often say, the only meaningful settlement (no thanks to that Tripoli Agreement, signed with such cynicism and lack of wisdom by the Marcos martial-law government) would be for Muslims and Christians to finally learn – after three centuries of suspicion, hostility, betrayal and conflict – to live with one another. But this will never happen if “Moro” enclaves and jerry-built “autonomous Muslim” provinces continue to be created to suit the desires of local Moro warlords, chieftains and politicians who have no concern, really for their Muslim followers and virtual serfs. Yet, that’s what we’ve been doing.

If we continue to relate this way, then we, Muslims and Christians together, are doomed for more disappointments of renewed fighting. The vicious cycle continues.

Indeed, this is not yet the time to celebrate. The war is not yet over. There are terrorists lurking out there, dispatched by another rebel group, waiting for the right time to sow terror and chaos all over again. Vigilance is what’s important. The President is right. This is not the time to lift Martial Law in the area. Everything is still very uncertain.

Who are the real enemies? If we think deeper we will realize that those rebel groups are but ‘superficial’ enemies. The real enemies are no one else but ourselves!