The first president from Mindanao has declared martial law —in Mindanao, the Philippines’ second biggest island, effective 10 p.m. of Tuesday, May 23.
Seventeen hours later, Rodrigo Roa Duterte disclosed he would extend martial law’s area of coverage to the Visayas, which he said, “is just a walking distance actually” and “because of the many islands they (the terrorists) can always escape there and begin another terroristic activity.”
On Tuesday afternoon, it took only eight hours of sporadic hide-fire-and-run fighting in Marawi City, 814 kms southwest of Manila, between government troops and a group of bandits and terrorists led by a so-called Maute Group which claims allegiance to Islamist State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), to prompt President Duterte, who was on his first day in Moscow on a five-day visit, to declare military rule in the Philippines.
Duterte cut short his Russia trip, met for three hours with Russian President Vladimir Putin, from 11 p.m. Tuesday to 2 a.m. Wednesday. Then he boarded his Philippine Airlines special flight, landing at the Manila International Airport by 5 p.m. May 24.
At Naia, the commander-in-chief said he has asked the military, especially the navy “to embargo the islands”, especially the sea that separates Mindanao, from the Visayas.
Now if ISIS-inspired terrorism spreads to Luzon, the main island of the 7,107-island archipelago, Duterte hinted he would declare martial law nationwide. ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is a militant group that seeks to install an Islamic state or caliphate in various parts of the world, including the Philippines.
Duterte bristles at such a possibility. Hence, his martial law and the possible suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. “This thing government cannot allow,” he said. “Government must put an end to this [terrorism]. I cannot gamble with ISIS because they are everywhere.”
The President assured his country, “I am not willing to allow abuses. [Civilian] government is running. The Congress is functioning. The courts are open for citizens to seek grievance.”
That, however, failed to assure critics. Human rights lawyer, former Senator Rene Saguisag said Duterte’s martial law could be worse than that of strongman Ferdinand Marcos. “His [Marcos’s] ultimate plan was really to be president for life,” Saguisag told ANC, so Marcos tried to minimize abuses and soften its impact.
Addressing Duterte, Saguisag said, “You are provoking the entire Muslim community, the entire ISIS group to retaliate. What happened in Manchester, England can happen here.” One may commit rookie errors, the former senator said, but after one year, “traffic could not be solved, insurgency worsened. To have to declare martial law is an admission of failure on your part.”
To be sure Duterte made it clear from the start, “I will be harsh”. He announced checkpoints, searches and arrests without warrants. Grim-faced on national television, he told the terrorists bluntly: “If I think you should die, you will die. If you fight us, you will die. If there is an open defiance, you will die!” The President has also made clear he would solve all of Mindanao’s peace and order problems, even if it would take the entire five-year remainder of his six-year term.
Former military officer and partylist Congressman Ashley Acedillo said Duterte “was playing with people’s lives. This is not child’s play. We had martial law before. It ended very badly.”
The excuse for emergency rule, initially is an alleged rebellion mounted by two groups in Marawi City—the 400-strong Maute group, which is part banditry, part private army, and partly a religious movement, and the so-called Abu Sayyaf, which the military claims has only 200 regulars.
The Marawi siege all began at about 2 p.m. Tuesday, when groups of armed men, elements of Maute and ASG, streamed into the city of 201,000, ostensibly to provide security to their leader, Isnilon Hapilon. They entered a hospital and captured hostages.
Days earlier, the military received reports the rebel-bandits would enter Marawi, apparently to occupy it. The reports were ignored. Maute, according to security specialist Rommel Banlaoi, has about 400 armed regulars, twice the number of the ASG and bigger than the strength of the Bangsamoro army.
Army soldiers saw the presence of an increasing number of unidentified armed men and prepared to arrest Hapilon.
At past 2 p.m., firefights broke out and residents heard loud explosions, from bombs and mortar fire. The bandits scampered for safety. They raided a chapel and took away a priest and 15 hostages. They raided the hospital and took away hostages. They raided the city jail, killed its police guards, and freed more than 100 prisoners. In ten areas of the city, the bandits positioned themselves, snipers at the ready. Later, it was learned, the terrorists had murdered at least nine civilians in cold blood and dumped them into an open field.
Early evening Tuesday, in Moscow Duterte began receiving reports of the worsening situation. At least a policeman and two soldiers were reported killed. Eight other soldiers were wounded in the firefight. It appears the bandits had taken effective control of the city.
Duterte decided to declare martial law. Marawi became a ghost town. Davao, 257 kms southwest of Marawi, went into a lockdown.