Tabang Marawi

Netnet Camomot

XAVIER University’s Tabang Marawi was on its 19th visit last Sunday.

Much like on May 21, 2017 when I went to Marawi for the unveiling of a Rotary marker and realizing later that the extremists were already preparing for battle then while we were there, I again had a Realization 101 last Monday upon learning that the extremists’ remaining leaders were finally dead, that the military was already on their way to annihilating them last Sunday.

Conducting relief work for survivors of natural disasters is a different story. Flash floods, earthquakes, typhoons happen in one day—an earthquake for five minutes—and don’t linger daily and continuously for almost five months. Evacuation centers for natural-disaster survivors are generally safe from more natural disasters except for earthquake aftershocks.

Relief work for the siege’s displaced residents, however, can mean hearing the sound of gunfire and bombs echoing from the main battle area which is merely five kilometers away from an evacuation center and tent city, with the fighting in Marawi now on its sixth month. These are the sounds that have accompanied military planes and helicopters daily in Marawi since the air strikes began.

Last Sunday, XU Tabang Marawi visited West Pantar in Lanao Del Norte, and Bito Buadi Parba and Bito Buadi Itowa in Marawi. This was already their 19th visit; it was our first time to join them. And it was raining heavily, apparently the first time for this copious downpour to happen to the Tabang Marawi team. We, the first-timers, must have brought the torrential rain with us.

I said this months ago—that my voluntary work would end on June 30, 2017. Why? Been there, done that. I learned my lesson in the most difficult way. Never again.

And, so, last Sunday, there I was acting as the photographer, but torn in between documenting our visit and merely observing from afar like the way an audience watches a documentary. I was then trying to heal the start of a cough by staying inside the airconditioned car for as long as I could, and constantly drinking water which required searching for rest rooms at every stop. There were times when I had to stop talking otherwise I’d be coughing inside the car until my fatty face turned red.

It wasn’t the best day for me to be a volunteer in Marawi. But then, is there ever a best day for a siege? Are potential targets allowed to ask extremists to please postpone their attack to the next day, so, the former can pack up and evacuate?

But relief work is not about the volunteer. It’s about the displaced residents who are now staying in tents, temporary houses, and evacuation centers, or with their relatives outside of the city proper, still hoping they can rebuild once the siege ends. The government is budgeting P5 billion for the city’s reconstruction this year, and probably P10 billion in 2018. These funds will be taken from other agencies.

XU’s Xavier Ecoville at Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro for Sendong survivors has become a model relocation site from which all others can learn on how to build a new community for evacuees. Will XU do the same in Marawi? Abangan.

Pinas is usually on relief-work mode for survivors of natural disasters, sieges, wars. You name it, Pinas has it. Add to that the alleged destabilization plots against President Rody Duterte, plus the question if last Monday’s transport strike was one of those plots—all these can inspire a Pinoy to leave for Mars. But since living in other planets is still science fiction, visa-free Taiwan will do as the embattled Pinoys’ new weekend sanctuary.

The Pinoy can become emotionally immune, though, to wars and disasters. If you didn’t flinch upon seeing last Monday’s bloody photos of the two dead extremist leaders, you definitely need a vacation in Taiwan. To be emotionally, mentally and spiritually blank in moments like this, is to be as dead as the extremist leaders.

Rebuilding and rehabilitation will begin once the siege is over. Survivors of natural disasters are already familiar with the national government’s rebuilding efforts which seldom receive an A for A-fort. Will Marawi’s reconstruction be the exception rather than the rule? Abangan.