Heed the ‘ bakwit’
How will martial law help the “bakwit (evacuees)”? Will the extension of martial law until the end of 2017 return peace more quickly to Mindanao?
If martial law is needed for the government to fight all rebels—not just the Maute Group but also the Abu Sayyaf, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and the New People’s Army— as well as the illegal drug networks financing the war in Mindanao, will the President eventually put the whole country under martial law?
These are among the questions dogging today’s State of the Nation Address ( Sona), the second President Rodrigo Duterte will make in office.
In the “Vitals” section published yesterday in SunStar Cebu, President Duterte “reached out for peace with ‘our Muslim brothers’ and rebels allied with the National Democratic Front and New People’s Army” when he delivered his first Sona on July 25, 2016.
“We are going nowhere, and it is getting bloodier by the day,” said the President almost a year ago.
His tone has changed dramatically since then. Last May 23, President Duterte imposed martial law in Mindanao after government forces clashed with the Islamist militant Maute Group in Marawi City, capital of Lanao del Sur.
Authorities said that the Maute Group, aided by fighters of the Islamist State (IS), are attempting to turn Marawi into a caliphate of IS fighters in Southeast Asia.
After declaring Proclamation 216, President Duterte said during a press conference on May 24: “If I think that the ISIS has already taken foothold also in Luzon and terrorism is not really far behind, I might declare martial law throughout the country to protect the people.”
Yesterday, a day before the 60th day of martial law and the deadline for its lifting, the Senate and the House of Representatives met and voted, 261-18, in favor of extending martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2017.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana defended the extension as necessary to “ensure that the country will not become a haven for terrorists,” reported SunStar Cebu on July 23.
The Maute extremists have “upgraded” their “weapons, logistics and tactics,” testified 1st Lt. Kent Fagyan before Congress last July 22. He explained why the military could not end the two-month siege of Marawi by the Maute Group.
Those opposed to the extension of martial law view the conflicting public statements of authorities as more than confusing. While the threats posed by rebels and terrorists are deemed serious enough to justify the extension of martial law, the war’s toll on human lives is inexplicably low.
Two months of wide-scale offensive and military airstrikes “has so far killed 99 soldiers, 421 militants and 45 civilians,” declared President Duterte to Davao City businessmen last July 21.
“The fighting in Marawi would soon be over,” he said, while cautioning the military “not to rush things” in Marawi City.
National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon has defended the extension of martial law for providing “additional tools” for the military to curtail terrorists’ movements, impose curfews, and arrest militants.
However, according to the human rights group Karapatan, the military is also behind the lawlessness besieging Marawi City.
According to the Karapatan documentation from May 23 to July 16, there were 10 cases of extrajudicial killings, 335 warrantless arrests, and more than 400,000 people displaced in Marawi City.
As the President delivers his second Sona, “bakwit (refugees)” in Iligan City and other parts of the country where they evacuated to call for an end to martial law and the cessation of military airstrikes in the city.
The burial of the dead, return of peace, respect for human dignity, resumption of education, and safe passage to their homes in Marawi City. These are the calls swelling from “the ground,” the people who have to live under martial law for another five months.
Will President Duterte and authorities pause in their speeches and listen to the “bakwit”?