Abu Sayyaf leader and Maute leader killed, What's Next?

Image source: http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/06/22/17/doj-taps-more-prosecutors-to-handle-rebellion-cases-related-to-marawi-siege

" Born in the East, I grew up loving the warm sun.
The shade of yellow was something that puts delight in my soul.
The shade of green reminded me of the bounty of Mindanao has promised abundance and growth.
But fear in black has taken my soul as it has reminded me its wars and its terror" - Gail

As Director of Research and Planning Committee of Young Centrists Union - Cagayan de Oro Chapter, my main concern is to educate the young leaders and even the communities about news, trends, and analysis of the current issues in the local and international level that affects security, peace and development, human rights and a lot more. We help legislators in crafting policies especially for the youth by providing inputs.

As a story teller here on steemit, I do not usually exhibit my concern about socio-economic and political features, unless if it is under the comment section. You can usually see me on my posts either travelling, painting, or doing some homesteady.

For just this moment, allow me to share my insights about the death of the notorious Abu Sayyaf leader and Maute leader. I am not writing to appeal on your emotions, but rather to come up with a constructive blog.

Now, why would this blog post matter? Should I be trusted with this topic? You be the one the one to judge.

I am a graduate of Bachelor of International Studies with flying colors (not the latin awards though haha) and scholar of Xavier Universit - Ateneo de Cagayan. I completed my academic requirements in Public Administration and is currently writing my thesis. I wanted my paper to focus on peace and development in our region.

I grew up in Cagayan de Oro City and had been engaged with different communities as a local missionary and peace advocate under an international non-governmental organization that works in Mindanao Island. I promote peace and development amidst the diverse culture of Mindanao. Throughout the Martial Law, I just stay travelled in Northern Mindanao observing and writing inputs that might be detrimental for the crafting of the stand of our organization.

Facts of the Issueand How I related it to my life

The Marawi Siege occurred last May 23, 2017. I could not forget that day because I was having dinner in an ice cream shop together with a close friend of mine who is working under the Office of the President. I even wrote the things that happened on my journal and marked it red.

The supervisor of my friend called and told her that Butig and some parts of Lanao had been under attacked by Maute. The hospital in Marawi has been attacked and a lot of people in that hospital became hostages. For short, simultaneous attacks occurred in different areas. There were Christians that were killed. And there were also a number of our Muslim brothers that were killed as well.

Prior to the day that Marawi was under attack, a medical student from Ateneo de Cagayan was under watch. He is a member of the Maute family. The news circulated among the alumni and some students. Unfortunately as what they say, the student was able to run away from the operatives.

I remember one time that my classmate who was working under the said Office warned us about the Maute group. I told them during our discussion that sooner, it may try to create chaos in their area and attack the focal point of Lanao, which is Marawi City. They asked me why I came up with such conclusion, I told them that I had been reading news about the growing radical Islamists in Middle East and that sooner or later it will certainly try to infiltrate Southeast Asian region. I had been observing the trend of the said topic for months. I also tried to think like these terrorists so that I could somehow envision the things that they are going to do. I know I sound so crazy, but I applied what I learned while reading books about Criminal Psychology. For one to know the plans of a criminal, you need to think like them. some of my classmates in our graduate studies class dismissed my crazy conclusion, but I just told them to just be very careful when in public.

I recalled this to my friend what about my conclusion on the Maute group and she was really shocked. It was happening then. We even discussed what the possible things that might happen are, I told her, the President might announced Martial Law to contain it and not to affect neighboring cities and provinces. We were coming up with conspiracy theories and talked about the effects of such incident and we were surprised each and passing day that it has been unfolding.

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Martial Law Experience

And so Martial Law was declared in Marawi City then following the entire island of Mindanao. I heard a lot of negative feedbacks coming from the people who are outside Mindanao and it was just so annoying. They try to compare it with the Martial during the time of President Marcos. I could attest that it was not and will not be.

I believe in the saying that desperate times call for desperate measures, and Martial is the most desperate measure that President Duterte could execute. A lot of the people in Mindanao agreed with his decision and supported him, not because we are loyal supporters of the President, but because we value our security more than our freedom to do things.

When the Martial Law was announced, we always hear aircrafts passing over us. Our house is just few miles away from the Airforce base. It has always been heartbreaking for us because we know that those aircraft were not just carrying live soldiers with them, but also dead bodies of the soldiers who were killed during the fight.

We were having short trips to Iligan City at that time when Mindanao was announced to be under Martial Law. It was days before the DENR Secretary announced that there will be no Travel Orders to Iligan and nearby areas. I saw soldiers who were being carried by trucks and will be sent to Marawi. It was heartbreaking that the only thing I could do is to pray for their safety. Because we were government officials and riding an official car, the traffic was not a problem to us.

The Good Soldiers

One time, I was riding a taxi when I found out that the one who was driving is a soldier posted to Marawi City. He was just having a three day vacation after a splinter wounded his feet. He even showed it to me to verify. He even presented his ID so I did not doubt on him them. He is a soldier and a bomb detonator. He even told me that he was posted first in Tawi-Tawi but then their troops were pulled out to fight a major war in Marawi. As he described, the city was in rubbles. There were a lot of bombs on the road. With his team, they tried to detonate the bombs. I asked him if they wore protective gears, he said they do not. I gasped in terror. He said they were just wearing combat uniforms and carrying hand guns.
He even cried foul on the accusations that men in uniform were raping women on site. He said, answering to his libido would be next thing to suicide as for them, every second counts.

The police intelligence in Cagayan de Oro also received threats. One of the places would be the Shell Oil Depot which is just few meters away from the DENR Compound. Marines were assigned to post the area. It was fully guarded. There were more than three battalions that were sent. I know this because I asked questions to them as they were staying in our compound.

There were also bomb experts who were Maute-ISIS sympathizers that were arrested. One was from Lanao. He rented a place in Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City. He was discovered to be hiding there because one day his landlord went to the City Hall to work out on his documents. He then saw the names and faces of those who were in the Wanted List shared by the Western Mindanao Command. He was shocked to see the face on one of his tenants. He reported it immediately to the authorities. Bomb paraphernalia were discovered in his place when the police came to his place.

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# Effects of Martial Law, Speculations, and a lot more!

It was pretty hard for us of course to be under Martial Law because there were a lot of check points along the high way and it has caused traffic jams. It has always been a hassle as we travel because we need to have a step, have them checked our identification cards. Well, compared to the long-term effects, this was just minimal.

Mass Migrations

Due to the conflict that occurred, a lot of residents from Marawi transferred to the nearest city, which is Iligan City. Iligan City has been flooded with evacuees and the people opt to give refuge to their relatives who had been affected. Ms. Macacua, one of my favorite clients, as she always talked to me about what was going on in Iligan, told me that their family housed a lot of their relatives. She felt about her home being crowded, but she felt sadder for her relatives whose houses were already in ruins. More than billions of amount of aid has been given to the refugees, but I know it was never enough.

Cagayan de Oro City also took part in welcoming the refugees. A lot of them bought houses in different subdivisions, and stayed in the hotel. A lot of people had panicked because of this. It is not because the people were not welcoming, but because Kagay-anons also value the safety of the entire population. If Marawi has not been liberalized from the Maute, then it will have a domino effect in Cagayan de Oro just like what happened in Iraq and Syria. My mom's public school even hosted the displaced students and set more classes to accommodate them because the Philippine Education System is inclusive to every Filipino children.

Economic Effect in Marawi and to its neighboring cities and provinces, why does it matter to every Filipino people, and speculations

The incident will have a huge effect on the economy and social landscape on the nearby cities and provinces. Marawi City turned into rubbles alone would cause billions to rehabilitate. It would take a toll on other sectors because it would mean decreasing the budget of one for such rehabilitation to happen. This is a huge blow to the fiscal management.

On the other hand, and evacuees could not be forever be evacuees as they might hamper the economic growth of the country and of their host cities. There had been job displacements occuring to those who are bread-winners. The local government units must also cater jobs to those who had been victims of the war. This would lead to competition among them.

It also has an effect on the socio-cultural landscapes if the host cities are not welcoming and if the evacuees would not opt to be malleable. It might soon lead to clashes among different nationalities as the Islam believers adhere to Sharia Law and there are also Christians who seem so critical about the Muslim culture.

The said conflict has also a huge effect on the presidency of Mr. Duterte. His ratings might not shake him but there would be different organizations who would try to shake him as they oppose on the continuation of the Martial Law. There has been speculation on going that it was the opposing political party who initiated such incident. As to what others believe, this is to shaken him in his position and would make the president step down as the head of the state and of the government. In addition, Maute group was just trying to affiliate itself with ISIS. Now, where would they get such amount of money for arms and or for salaries for their own soldiers? The budget for Annual Year 2018 based on the statments that were released by NEDA and DBM for the Military sector has increased more than ten-fold, meanwhile Commission on Human Rights were given a one thousand budget as proposed by the lower house of Congress. This creates a rucus in social media.

Would it be possible that the drug money came from the drug lords who earn billions? As what they say, there is so much money with narcopolitics. The war on drugs did not merely shake those who were small time pushers, but also those who are on top. In response, the drug lords would find ways for this program to stop.

Some people were saying that the Maute carefully planned the attacked in Marawi ten years ago and carried it last May because it is believed to be the right timing. In my individual level of analysis, I do not think they would really pursue into. If I was a terrorist, why wait for that long? For one, I thought of this incident as trying to cause destabilization on the current administration. There were even speculations that ISIS and its affiliated groups act based on the money that they would have rather from the ideologies which they wish to pursue.

Now, have you ever thought of the outcome if and if the Maute group was not contained? We might be living now in a society full of terror. Men might have been recruited or dead if they disregard. Aside from that, women and children may had been taken by them and had turned them into sex slaves a laborers just like what Abu Sayyaf members do to the kidnapped victims. Thank goodness it did not happen.

Having these two leaders dead do not entail that ideology died with them as well. The remaining members may opt to branch out and follow the ideologies that their leaders had established. Also, they might recruit some people to work with them soon just like some old time bandits. Radicalism is a cancer in the society that requires a systematic approach as it may spread out like cancer cells. It also requires the entire nation to participate in eliminating these radicals.

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As Filipinos, what should we do then? I think this is the most important and relatable question for everyone. Shall we allow them to remain in such disposition? If you think so, I want you to be reminded of this: there is no such thing as exclusive growth. The mechanism of growth and development would always be inclusive. If you say we leave those people alone, then that is considered a form of social injustice. Remember the words of the movie Lilo and Stich? Ohana means family, adn in family no one gets left behind.

To add, if we left them out, there is a huge possibility that they will plan to live in the Metropolitan for job opportunities. Competition would be tougher then and the population would fluctuate. This then lead to increase of unemployment, underemployment, and crime rate. This is in contrast with what we push through.

In conclusion, I want to borrow the words of Amb. Johnnie Carson during a conference on Spotlight on Kenya. He said that progress is frequently contested, disrupted, and even stalled. Before it picks up steam again and moves forward as usually it does in places that are committed to inclusive government.

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For more information about the dead of Hapilon and Omar Maute, please read: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/629856/more-dead-terrorists-recovered-near-where-hapilon-maute-were-killed/story/

Do you have other ideas you wish to share? As a steemer, how do you feel about it? What do you wish to do? Feel free to comment below so that we can have a healthy discussion about it.