Terror on hold

“On May 23… radicals were in one religious gathering of males at a big mosque in Basak Malutlut. Security forces were going to take suspects in custody. The Maute Group resisted and the highway became a no-man’s land. Many people fled without any bag or clothes… We Meranaos are being blamed for the Marawi crisis that has displaced almost 300,000 and counting (Samira Gutoc, Rappler, 06.15.2017).”

Samira Gutoc, a Muslim Meranao, is a lawyer, former Assemblywoman ( Women Sector), and is in media. She feels for devastated Marawi, seat and capital for 39 villages, and home to the Mindanao State University main campus and its majority-Christian student population. It was declared a peace zone in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in 2012, she laments. “Muslims and Christians here live side by side (Ibid.).”

She knows from her active participation in a security monitoring group that has been watching the Mautes that incidents of violence by them were “sporadic crimes against Shiites, gays, men in uniform, and suspected intelligence agents (Ibid.).” She says there have been multi- sectoral meetings on combating crime and terrorism with fellow member newscasters speaking against radicalism almost every week… “So please do not tell us we did not do anything. Dear President, please do not blame the Meranaos (Ibid.).”

But “Where is Duterte?” most everyone wondered in the five working days of last week (Newsweek, 06.15.2017).” “…( while) Philippine forces have been battling Islamist militants in Marawi for three weeks; civilians are starving and some have resorted to “eating blankets” to survive; President Rodrigo Duterte had not been seen in public since June 11, and was absent at the June 12 Independence Day flag raising and wreath laying. Ernesto Abella, the presidential spokesman, told reporters Duterte was not ill but was just “tired” and needed to “rejuvenate (Ibid.).”

Duterte resurfaced Saturday afternoon and spoke on national television at the 50th founding anniversary of Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, and later gave a pep talk to soldiers at the 4th Infantry Division Advance Command Post in Boncasi, Butuan. He said casually that “during his absence he traveled for two days ‘incognito’ with his close aide to an undisclosed place in Mindanao ( Philippine Daily Inquirer- PDI, 06.18.2017).” And his people have to hold judgment and accept that.

But terror cannot be put on hold. The running and the hiding, the wounding and the dying continued through the Leader’s strange absence. Zia Alonto Adiong, Assemblyman, 1st District, Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and active in rescue and relief efforts said on Thursday that residents fleeing the besieged Marawi City said “they saw around 500-1,000 dead bodies in an area where intense fighting has taken place between security forces and Islamist militants in the last three weeks (Reuters, 06.15.2017).” The military has said 290 people have died in over three weeks of fighting, including 206 militants, 58 soldiers and 26 civilians (Ibid.).

A claim of between 500 to 1,000 dead bodies seen is too far from the number of 290 people reported dead by the military. Somewhere, not exactly in- between is the real number, much canted towards the propagandist motivation of who is saying what. But even the low-end statistics of the military ( perhaps more believable, despite) can be extremely alarming for just a timeframe of about 23 days. The number of