Time to unite and rebuild

All Filipinos should really rejoice and be grateful about the good news that Marawi City has been “liberated”. Even if there are still pockets of resistance, the end of the siege looks indubitable. We should thank and honor our soldiers who risk their lives to defend our country against IS backed Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists groups out to establish an Islamic State known as DAESH covering the entire province of Mindanao. But most especially we should pay tribute to the nearly 200 soldiers who died in the encounter to regain Marawi City and restore peace in that hapless part of our country. Their courage and dedication to service, and their love of country must be remembered and recognized. They have really lived up to their Constitutional duty as protectors of the people and of the Philippines.

For most of us Filipinos who are far from the battleground, the least we can do is to commiserate with the loved ones left behind by the soldiers in their hour of bereavement. The government on the other hand must immediately see to it that these soldiers did not die in vain by extending to their bereaved families the necessary assistance which the fallen soldiers could have provided had they not died.

Of course we should not also forget our fellow Filipinos living in Marawi City particularly the more than 1,000 people killed, the undetermined number of hostages taken, and the over 700,000 men, women and children displaced and forced to leave their residence or evacuate to another province in order to save their lives. As can be seen from the daily TV coverage and news reports about the war, the death and destruction in the city appear to be as extensive as it is unexpected and unprecedented. The videos and pictures of burned structures, bullet-riddled and war ravaged buildings due to bombardment were really devastating. For people who are relatively far from the war torn city, it is quite hard to imagine that such a seemingly small rag-tag band of terrorists could have caused so much havoc and inconspicuously penetrated that part of our country.

Even then it is still so heartening to see the entire nation and other countries of the world helping the people of Marawi in rebuilding and rehabilitating the city, after so many deaths and enormous damages which according to estimates amounts to billions of pesos. In the midst of our efforts in this regard however, the nagging question that must not be forgotten is: could they have been prevented?

It must be recalled that the government intelligence agents and even Duterte himself claimed that he knew beforehand of the Marawi siege which will take some time to crush. In fact intelligence reports disclose that there had been network and alliance building activities among terrorist groups and lawless armed men to attain their long standing goal of absolute control over the entire Mindanao. Thus it would seem that there was sufficient time for the government forces to pre-empt and prevent the terrorists from carrying out their plan. So a thorough probe must be conducted to determine why the IS backed Maute-Abu Sayyaf group were still able to penetrate and establish a solid base in the City that led to the Martial Declaration last May 23, 2017. It would also be useful to find out why they were able to put up such tenacious resistance for almost five months. This probe is necessary in order to prevent the recurrence of such siege which Duterte himself vowed will “never, never, never ” happen again. And as we look forward to an auspicious conclusion to this sad episode in our country’s history, it will likewise be useful to find out when martial law could be lifted in Mindanao so life there will be back to normal.

In this connection, it is indeed quite alarming and perplexing why Duterte is still trying to alarm and scare our people with threats of putting up a “revolutionary government” in the entire country when life should be back to normal already even in Marawi. More confusing here is that a “revolutionary government” is not even provided for, in our Constitution. Such kind of government can only be put up after a successful revolution has been staged against the duly constituted government like what happened during the EDSA people power revolution. So is Duterte planning to stage a revolution to topple his own government? This is quite absurd and kind of weird indeed.

Actually, now is the most appropriate time for us to unite as a people and as a nation. It is about time that we should end the rift caused by the die-hard Duterte supporters especially in social media who continue to spread lies and falsehoods against people or groups they perceive as “anti Duterte.” Apparently, they have been influenced by the President himself who has even admitted on several occasions that he was only lying or “joking”. It is truly sad and quite unfortunate that a fake report was still published in social media by “pro Duterte” trolls about the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) alleged statement  expressing “regrets” on the killing of Marawi siege leaders Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute. The CBCP however never made such statement. CBCP President, Archbishop Soc Villegas explained that the Bishops were just  lauding the gallantry and heroic efforts of our soldiers to free Marawi. They never condemn the killing of the two leaders. By resorting to such lie, the Duerte supporters themselves are the ones destabilizing his government as they are creating a serious rift among our people by alienating and antagonizing Catholics who compose 80% of the country’s population.

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