Verify, verify, verify

What amazed me when reports about the clash between government troops and a terrorist group in Marawi City in Lanao del Sur began filtering in on social media was the amount of unverified information and disinformation that were being circulated. The picture painted was that of people being killed or held hostage and a city being burned to the ground, which was somewhat way off.

It was when traditional media took over and the government issued clarifications that a scene that was closer to what was really happening on the ground was painted. By then, President Rodrigo Duterte, who was on an official trip to Russia, had already announced the declaration of military rule not only in Marawi City but in the entire Mindanao.

An hour after the martial law declaration late Tuesday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced that it is in control of Marawi City and that the situation there had stabilized. And the AFP spokesperson, Marine Col. Edgard Arevalo, made it a point to warn the public against being drawn in by propaganda.

“The news being circulated by these terrorists and their sympathizers are spurious and are meant to spread lies and disinformation. It is propaganda to attract foreign terrorists’ support and recognition,” he said.

So what really happened? From the AFP statement, one point is obvious, that the Maute terrorist group, which is said to be based in Lanao del Sur, did not plan the assault on Marawi City but was merely responding to a military operation to get terrorist leader Isnilon Hapilon, who is reportedly the representative of the Middle East group Isis in the country. Hapilon was spotted in Marawi.

The Maute group reacted by firing at elements of the military’s 103rd Brigade in the villages in Caloocan and Basak Malutlut at about 3 p.m. Tuesday, sparking a firefight. “When the firefight ensued, there were reported re-enforcement from the sympathizers of Maute where pocket firefight erupted in nearby areas,” Col. Jo-ar Herrera, Philippine Army 1st Infantry Tank Division spokesperson said in an inquirer,net report.

The “pocket firefight” referred to by Herrera must have included what Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced earlier. “As of tonight (Tuesday, May 23), the Maute group burned several facilities – the church, city jail, the Ninoy Aquino School and the Dansalan College. The Maute fighters still occupy also the main street of Marawi city called the Quezon Street and two bridges,” he said, noting that two soldiers and one policeman were killed.

But the picture painted by the initial information has been changing as additional details on the situation in Marawi City continue to pour in. What has been established, though, is that some netizens who are either misinformed or intentionally spreading lies and disinformation are making the situation look worse than it really was for reasons only they know. My advice to the public can therefore be summed up in three words: verify, verify, verify.

As for the President’s martial law declaration, I will tackle that in my next column.