Noynoy Aquino came out of his Times Street man cave this week to say that he, too, once contemplated declaring martial law. During the siege laid on Zamboanga City by a band of armed men belonging to the Moro National Liberation Front, Aquino said, he asked his generals if he should impose military rule.
Aquino said the generals told him there was no need to do so, so he didn’t. End of story.
But that’s Aquino for you. He will have occasional ideas and then he will eventually decide to do nothing.
Noynoy’s successor, Rodrigo Duterte, is not as prone to idleness, thank God. And as a Mindanaoan born and raised, he wants to end the various conflicts that have beset his island for decades and prevented it from fulfilling its now-ironic nickname of “Land of Promise.”
And so Duterte declared martial law in the whole of Mindanao, after the Maute thugs decided to mass in Marawi City, killing and burning in a bid to gain attention and support from their spiritual and ideological idols, the brutal ISIS terrorists. It is a bold, decisive move by a president on a mission to bring peace and prosperity to Mindanao, backed by the same people who catapulted him to the presidency in his native land.
Here I must share a Facebook post written by Yusuf Ashraf (Joey) Tugung, a California-based Filipino from Zamboanga, entitled “Condemnation of Attacks Not Enough Anymore.” It is one Muslim’s incisive take on what is happening now in Marawi, written by someone who is horrified by fundamentalist violence and terrorism. I have taken the liberty of editing Tugung’s post for style and length.
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Laying siege to your own town, which is predominantly populated by Muslims, and terrorizing your own people and your own tribe are not only despicable but demonic to say the least. Doing it days before the holy month of Ramadan is not only an act of abomination but shaytan (satanic).
Claiming that you have done it in the name of Islam only defiles the same God, the one God (Allah) that we all claim to worship. In essence, those who have done these atrocities are not Muslims, because Islam is a religion of peace and love. On the contrary, by definition, they are kafir, or infidels.
Indeed, these evil forces—Maute and Abu Sayyaf—do not deserve to exist on the face of the earth. These savage bandits have no God, know no God, but only the arch-devil, Iblis. Kafir, in the truest sense of the word, they should be damned and consigned to the gates of jahannam (hell). And since mercy is not in their vocabulary, these monstrous bands of brigands deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
I am tired of being an apologist for the heinous acts that have been committed and are being committed by some errant Muslims. I am weary of condemning them for their atrocities to the point that I feel it has already become trite. To me, words of condemnation and the call for unity, peace, sobriety, and dialogue are not enough anymore. Condemnation cannot erase nor stop the continued violence committed by these infidels.
For these Muslim deviants, now is not the time to play for words anymore. We must all be united to defeat the terrorists who seek to attack us. And it is high time that we apply Hammurabi’s Code to these evildoers: “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”
Without wavering, what we need now is to give our strong support to the actions of our government, the military and the law enforcement authorities— to kill all these infidels, and let God (Allah), sort them out as to who will go to the gates of jahannam (hell) or jannah (heaven/paradise).
Without any reservations, we should all support the declaration and imposition of martial law in Mindanao by President Rodrigo Duterte and the consequent undertaking of military operations and law enforcement activities against these terrorists and their sympathizers. This is now all about the fight between the forces of good and those of evil; in particular, the evil doings that have been committed by these mindless, God-less terrorists.
To the political pundits, activists, opposition groups and charlatans, I would like to say that the declaration of martial law is not a political issue. What we have in our midst is a major crisis of national proportions because of the existential threat of terrorism to our national security.
The objective of the imposition of martial law is simply the preservation of law and order. Anyone that will politicize the imposition of martial law in Mindanao and the military operations against these terrorists are doing a great disservice to our country and must be considered unpatriotic.
This fight against terrorism that we should all support is all about the rule of law, justice and the preservation of peace and order. This is about Christians and Muslims united in the fight against terrorism. Understand, these terrorists don’t profess any ideology or any creed.
Their values and behaviors are tribal rather than spiritual or religious. They are anarchists. A real Muslim is one who follows the religion correctly and doesn’t justify violence using religion.
The long-term solution is to solve the age-old Mindanao conflict. I just hope that the MILF had no hand in this Marawi incident, otherwise, the peace process could immediately be suspended indefinitely.
My prayers this Holy Month of Ramadan will be relentless for peace, love and unity in our beloved Mindanao.