WE must laud the decisiveness by which President Rodrigo Duterte cut short his trip to the Russian Federation upon hearing that the Maute Group, which had pledged allegiance to the international terror network ISIS, had laid siege to Marawi City in Lanao del Sur.
He did not hem and haw and immediately declared martial law in Mindanao.
As of press time, the extent of harm done to city residents is yet unknown.
What is known, however, is that to claim that what is going on are “isolated incidents”—as the police are wont to do—would be foolhardy. Terrorism is upon us, and the black flag of the ISIS being mounted by the Maute Group in areas they have conquered, is proof of that.
You can never truly act on a problem unless you acknowledge that it is there.
The thought of the President rushing home to personally attend to the crisis, and the sound of his voice promising to be harsh to the terrorists, were reassuring. Mr. Duterte said he would be a useless leader if he were incompetent and incapable of keeping order in the country. He would not allow the country to go to the dogs, he said.
But this is where he opens himself to speculation.
For example, he warned the enemy to be ready because they had forced his hand to declare martial law. If he felt it was necessary, he said, he would expand the coverage of martial law to Visayas and then to the whole country. But talk of martial law still jars our collective memory.
Mr. Duterte also talked about how terrorism was linked to the drug trade—a reference that could have been mentioned another time. As it is, the manner in which the drug war is being fought remains a contentious, divisive, unresolved issue.
People’s imagination runs wild especially in a crisis. It does not help that the police, to whom Mr. Duterte himself promised protection as they carry out the campaign against illegal drugs, are perceived as abusive and arbitrary in their acts, emboldened by their chief’s unconditional support.
Certainly there is an enemy to be contained here. Let us not allow our zeal to confuse ourselves on who it really is. The adversary is the terrorists who have no other objective but to sow fear and chaos in their perverted minds. Filipinos of whatever religion, political bent or social status should unite against this common foe, instead of turning against each other during these precarious times.
