Fragile peace
A fortnight ago, media reported a shootout between joint police operatives and soldiers of the Armed Forces and a militant group in Marawi City. This resulted in the death of Usop Nasis, aka “Abu Asraf,” the No. 2 man of Abu Zacaria, a “listed leader” of the ISIS-inspired terrorist group, Dawlah Islamiya of the Maute Group responsible for the Marawi Siege of May 2017. Seven Philippine National Police personnel and one Army officer were wounded.
The slain commander was the subject of a warrant of arrest in three criminal cases for murder and frustrated murder issued by the Regional Trial Court of Malabang, Lanao del Sur, Branch 12.
There were other reports of previous armed skirmishes between local militants and soldiers in the hinterlands of Lanao del Sur. Complicating the situation is the presence of armed communists in the frontiers of the province and Bukidnon, their nontraditional campsite. And all these are threatening us even as we face the worst medical crisis of our generation.
These are challenging times indeed for authorities. The state is fighting enemies on several fronts. The fiercest and mysterious one is the invisible virus, which is taking a toll on our countrymen. This takes the cake. Other concerns can wait but not the pandemic. It’s getting closer to our homes with family members, relatives and friends victimized. But this does not mean that we should sweep under the rug other problems.
Meantime, the recent death of one of the sub-commanders of the Maute Group should shake off and rouse authorities from the stupor of complacency in their campaign to stamp out and arrest the spread of terrorist ideology in the south. The threat is real. There are still sleeper cells around the area. Danger still lurks in unlikely places like well-populated Marawi City. Faith-based extremists, like wolves in sheeps’ skin, have adroitly interspersed with the rest of the residents that identifying them is like searching for a needle in a haystack. They usually hide under the cloak of evangelism, proselytizing Koranic teachings and Islamic traditions.
Their default hideouts are traditionally the dense rainforest in the mountain ranges away from the prying eyes of authorities. This is a fertile ground for recruitment where gullible and ultra-religious Muslims thrive. They strategically carry out their teach-in and indoctrination of the extremist Wahabbi-Salafi Islamic ideology in these secluded remote areas. The fire of hope for the revival of the Islamic Caliphate during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, PBUH still simmers. Their thrashing in Mosul, Iraq, the de facto capital of the short-lived Islamic Caliphate, did not make a dent in their global crusade.
The message is: You may have killed the messenger but not the message, nurtured by a group who looks at the barrel of the gun and sees paradise. Their deviant belief continues to spread, which is fed and nourished by injustice and neglect from government. These normally attract people in the margins of society whose gullibility emanates from government’s inattention.
Defense and security authorities should reassess their default peace paradigms. They may have been made inutile and ineffective by new forces in contemporary milieu. Perhaps, it’s time to change tack.
The pandemic should normally slow down the criminal campaign of these extremists but instead, they are taking advantage of the emergency when attention and resources of our security and defense forces are focused on Covid-19.
The capability of government is stretched and thinned out fighting several enemies — the pandemic, terrorists and criminals who thrive on defenseless civilians.
This could perhaps be the reason why a nation with a hegemonic dream has devised a subtle strategy surreptitiously to take advantage of our inattention over our seas. A frenemy which is our neighbor has consistently made us believe that it will respect our sovereignty over our territorial waters, our patrimony, confirmed by no less an international arbitral court. Yet unrelenting in its annexation design.
The lesson learned here is that, we should not put our guard down against our enemies from within and without. Their plan is not distracted by any disaster or epidemic. In fact, they see this crisis as an opportune time to pursue whatever criminal design they have, while our focus is on pandemic.
“We should not put our guard down against our enemies from within and without.
“These are challenging times indeed for authorities. The state is fighting enemies on several fronts.