Comfortable with tight security
NATIONAL Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said the martial law in Mindanao is still needed until the end of the year to allow the military to address potential terrorist threats in the region.
“Well, we have it up to December 31st so personally, I would like it to stay in place. Because while the combat operations are over, let us remember that there are probable and possible elements that would still carry on the affiliation to ISIS,” Esperon was quoted as saying by a SunStar Philippines article on an interview on the sidelines of the turnover rites of Russia’s weapons to the Philippines.
Sun.Star Davao ran a thread on that issue on its Facebook page last October 23, and the comments that have already run in hundreds were predominantly wanting Martial Law to stay for as long as the rebuilding of Marawi is not done. Some even want Martial Law throughout the term of President Rodrigo R. Duterte.
The comments generated underline one thing: Majority of Mindanaoans know the threat and would rather that this be taken care of as a proactive operation rather than a reaction after a fact, and we cannot blame them. The images of Marawi City will be difficult to erase from the memories of the Mindanaoans, who themselves have in one way or another experienced being caught in a crossfire, millions of residents even knowing the drill by heart on what to do when gunfires break out.
This unmasks the propaganda being thrown around by the opposition that the Martial law that had to be declared is a ploy by the Duterte Administration to stay on in power.
It’s time to wake up to the reality that global terrorism is real and President Ferdinand E. Marcos has been ousted long before the millennials were even conceived. We say, move on from the dark past and let the transitional justice systems set in place compensate the sufferings. We cannot expect to develop if we hold on to the past, refuse to acknowledge present gains, and only paint everything with the sins of the past.
While there is every reason to say, Never Again to Marcos’ Martial Law, Martial Law remains to be constitutional and a tool for quick action against threats to the nation.
Mindanaoans know it so well, and they themselves are saying this is not Marcos Martial Law and they want it because they know that while the Maute Group may have been decimated in Marawi, the terrorist network intertwined with cultural norms gone bad are causing the misguided to still lust for that Caliphate.