In the wake of President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of the liberation of Marawi after a five-month siege, the people are asking: Is this is the end of terrorism in Mindanao? Will the terrorists retaliate? With the deaths of Isnilon Hapilon and Omar Maute, will the IS now stop trying to establish a caliphate here? Will martial law in Mindanao now be lifted?
As far as I know, terrorism will remain. This will be the biggest challenge to President Duterte in the remainder of his term. It appears that the IS has chosen Mindanao as its hub in Southeast Asia, and has started forming alliances with other terror groups.
My gulay, even now a Malaysian terrorist named Mahmud Ahmad is being bruited about as the successor of Hapilon, the emir of the caliphate. Ahmad is considered as one of the financiers of the Marawi siege. There are also unconfirmed reports that more money from the Middle East is coming.
There are reports that terror groups are already looking at other Mindanao cities like Iligan, Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, Cotabato and Davao. How then can terrorism end?
This is exactly why the military cannot recommend to the President the lifting of martial law.
The biggest challenge now is for the President to cope with so many terror cells in Mindanao. How can he contain terrorism and prevent it from spilling over to other parts of the country? It would be the height of naivete to think we have really been free from the threat of terrorism.
Lest I am accused of peddling fake news, I believe, as an opinion writer, that President Duterte faces more challenges now than President Ferdinand Marcos did in 1972.
* * *
With just a handful of terrorists battling it out with government forces in Marawi City, the next battle of President Duterte is rehabilitating the war-torn city. This could be really expensive. We need the help of other countries.
There are temporary shelters being built for displaced residents, but this is not enough because they also need means to earn a living.
If you look at how Marawi was destroyed after heavy fighting, you would think it was a scene from Iraq or Syria.
* * *
I have no love lost for former Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, now senator. She had her comeuppance when President Duterte had her charged for alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade.
I read the decision and I am inclined to believe that De Lima’s petition to be indicted instead by the Sandiganbayan should have prevailed.
In his dissenting opinion, Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said it was the Sandiganbayan, not the Muntinlupa courts, that had jurisdiction over De Lima. Carpio said the prosecution said De Lima used her power and position and authority as then Secretary of Justice to recover money from the New Bilibid Prisons for her senatorial bid in the last elections.
Carpio said the information in the case did not charge the non-bailable offense of drug trafficking, There was no single element of drug trafficking mentioned. The information failed, Carpio said, to show that De Lima actually participated in the drug trade. It simply accuses De Lima of allowing the inmates to continue trading drugs while serving jail time.
“How can petitioner be made liable as co-conspirator when there is no allegation whatever that she committed an act constituting part of the illegal sale of drugs, and not one of the essential elements of the crime of illegal drugs is present?”
What the information charges, Carpio said, is the bailable offense of direct bribery. And yet she is being held without bail.
For this reason, Carpio believes that the Muntinlupa RTC should revoke the warrant of arrest issued against De Lima.
Based on the information itself, the accusation of illegal trade of drugs is blatantly a pure invention, Carpio said. To allow the continued detention of De Lima is to see gross injustice perpetrated.
* * *
One of the most thankless jobs in the administration is that of presidential spokesman, especially with somebody like President Duterte in Malacañang.
This is why I give credit to Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella, a former pastor, who almost always has to interpret what the President means.
I can no longer count the times when Abella told us in his usual somber way what the President really meant with his words. The President should be circumspect when he opens his mouth. He must pity his spokesman.