STREETWISE

“War vs. terrorism” meets “war on drugs.” Perfect.

when security forces attempted to capture Hapilon, was part of a rebellion hatched by the unified enemies of the state in that part of Mindanao.

Adding to the ISIS scare are newspaper reports that Indonesia warned the Philippine government that a thousand “Islamist extremists” have entered the country. Subsequently news reports on the ongoing crisis in Marawi have repeated the speculation that ISIS has decided to shift its base of operations from the Middle East to South East Asia because of their alleged setbacks in Syria and Iraq.

Another video supposedly downloaded from the ISIS Web site no less, shows armed men trashing a church that the CBCP has confirmed is a Catholic church in Marawi City whose parish priest the Mautes have taken hostage. Add to this earlier reports that Christians in Marawi were being mercilessly killed by the group for merely having a different religion.

The discovery of tens of millions of cash and bank checks in an abandoned house in Marawi City seems to be a fit to the big puzzle the military is trying to piece together. Duterte himself provides the clincher by his emphatic assertion that the Maute Group is allied with drug lords who in turn are being coddled by or are in fact powerful local politicians. “War vs. terrorism” meets “war on drugs.” Perfect.

Several petitions have been filed with the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the imposition of martial law in Mindanao. Most notable are the two that raise doubts on the factual basis of Proclamation 216. They emphasize that the current fighting in Marawi City was government-initiated, in a failed bid to capture or neutralize Hapilon, and the armed clashes resulted from his followers resisting such attempt. To them, this does not constitute an actual rebellion of such magnitude that it endangers public safety, most especially in the entirety of Mindanao.

The President’s Report to Congress justifying martial law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus has subsequently turned out to be inaccurate, false, or overstated. Nonetheless the ferocity of the ongoing armed conflict in Marawi City, the resulting humanitarian crisis for the civilian population, and the threat of an ISIS foothold in Mindanao fanned by government and “terror experts” are muting opposition to martial law.

It is only recently that grave abuses perpetrated by military and police forces in the course of their supposed mopping up operations are being brought to light.

The Integrated Bar of the Philippines Lanao del Sur in an open letter to President Duterte condemned “illegal searches and seizures in Marawi City by military men, police and other law enforcement agencies which results in rampant loss and deprivation of properties and possessions of innocent civilians.”

Coupled with the aerial bombings of Marawi City, it now appears that the “cure” provided by the Duterte regime has become worse than the “disease” of the ISIS- inspired terrorist acts by the Maute Group/ASG. What else can anyone expect from a commanderin- chief whose values could make him candidly declare that “Marcos’s martial law was good?”