The so-called Isis attack (1)

By JOSE L. ESCOBIDO
ContributorFirst of three parts

I WAS to talk before an audience about my views and ideas of the so-called Isil or Isis attack in Marawi City. The request was premised on the fact that I studied at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City and graduated from it with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1972. Is this circumstance a qualification enough for me to talk about the so-called Isil attack? From my perspective, I have doubts. But I am probably in a better position to talk about the subject than the politicians coming from Luzon who have not even seen or interacted with Muslim Filipinos. So, on this understanding, I dare proceed.

But before going further allow me to reminisce the Marawi City of yore. I borrowed these words “Marawi City of yore” from Atty. Makabangkit Lanto who wrote a piece of the same title in Inquirer two or three weeks ago. I studied in MSU, Marawi City from 1968 to 1972. I personally experienced living in Marawi City of yore. It was peaceful, and there was harmony among the inhabitants. The vast majority of the inhabitants were Muslims. When I first set my foot in the city at the bus terminal, I felt I was transported to another planet. The weather was cold, much much colder than in Camiguin. I saw people so different that I wanted to return to the bus and go back to Iligan City. People wore dresses with bright colors, and they wore “malongs” also of bright colors. And they did not speak Bisaya. But I just followed my sister who brought me there and took the jeepney going to school campus. Once in the campus, I was relieved that I heard people speaking Bisaya. A few months after, I felt settled in the new community. During my time, the student population at the MSU was 80-percent Christian. But we interacted with Muslim students everywhere in the campus, inside the classrooms, in the dormitory, in the cafeteria, and the library. One year after, I was practically assimilated in the Marawi City of yore. I roamed around the city alone, window shopping. There were Chinese storeowners in the main streets. I could go to “Bangolo”, the public market, alone buying T-shirts and pants and haggling about their prices with Muslim vendors. There was no problem about communication because Bisaya was understood and spoken in Marawi City of yore. I could watch movies alone in the city without any fear of being harmed inside the moviehouse. There was a theater named “Ramain” — I don’t know if it is still existing now –where I watched “bomba” films. It was in the moviehouse where I watched and enjoyed “bomba” films like “Saging ni Pacing” starring Rosanna Ortiz, and “Uhaw” starring Merle Fernandez. In fine, Marawi City of yore was peaceful and safe, a place where a child could grow up normally as an adolescent and adult. What happened to Marawi City of yore? We knew what happened — it disappeared after Dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972.

The story is a bit long, but it will help us situate ourselves in the present day Marawi City, the city which was attacked by Isil or Isis a few weeks ago, according to mainstream, social, and anti-social media. But we will not confront the jugular question if the armed men who attacked Marawi City, were they really adherents to IsilL/Isis?

The focus of our inquiry is, of course, the Maute group. The members of this group reportedly attacked the city. Who are the members of this group? Where they really adherents to Isil/Isis? This question is paramount because its answer would pave our way to the possible solution to the Marawi problem. When I say Marawi, that includes Lanao del Sur.

Before the attack in Marawi City, the Maute Group was merely composed of lawless Maranaws in the same manner that there are lawless Christians. They committed crimes, but they had no political color, domestic or transnational. They were used by politicians especially during elections as enforcers to enhance the chances of winning. After elections, politicians forgot them and sidelined them until the next elections. But the group realized its power — the power coming from their guns. Then they became a force to reckon with. Then they had encounter with the law enforcement agencies. But nobody ever seriously called them as adherents of Isil or Isis. When the Maute group attacked Marawi City, this was the time when the words “Isil” or “Isis” hugged the headlines of mainstream media, and became darlings of social and anti-social media. Who gave the mainstream, social and anti-social media the idea that the attack in Marawi was Isil-inspired? Did the journalist of the mainstream media go to Marawi City immediately after the attack and asked the people there who attacked them? Did the inhabitants of the social and anti-social media go to Marawi City and asked the people there whether it was Isil/Isis members who attacked them? Why did the media, social and anti-social included, immediately conclude that the attackers were Isil/Isis members. Who gave them the information that it was the Isil/Isis that attacked the city? These questions are not just choreographed the management of the information so that the responsibility of the attack shall be blamed on Isil/Isis.

When the Maute Group read or heard from the media that the attack of Marawi was Isil/Isis-inspired, they readily accepted the designation and announced publicly and on the Internet that the group were under the umbrella of the Isil/Isis international. When the leadership of Isil/Isis in Syria and Iraq heard that the Maute Group in far away Marawi was declaring its membership and loyalty to Isil/Isis, its leadership was more than happy to oblige. They had members in far away Marawi without exerting efforts or spending money to recruit them. They were probably jumping with joy, and immediately got in touch with Maute Group that, in return for their avowed loyalty, received money from the Isil/Isis. The cycle was complete, and the two entities were now joined.

Is the foregoing scenario credible? Is it highly credible. We can mention the attack of Resorts Hotel in Manila as an example. After the attack, the mainstream media immediately ascribed it to terrorism, and the terrorists were from Isil/Isis. The subliminal message was that the Maute Group perpetrated the bombing being Isil-inspired. This was the news story for some days. The next news story was that the Isil/Isis claimed responsibility for the attack. This was also the news story for some days. So the public now was indoctrinated by the news story that the attack at the Resorts Hotel was instigated by the Isil/Isis terrorists. And who are the adherents of the Isil/Isis in the Philippines? It is the Maute Group, according to mainstream, social, and anti-social media. The media did not categorically say that it was the Maute Group that attacked the Resorts Hotel. But is categorical statement from the media necessary because the dots were already connected. The dots had already connected Isil/Isis and the Maute Group. And then it turned out several days later that the attack was perpetrated by a gambling addict who became mentally unstable. The terrorists turned out to be innocent. The media, including the social and anti-social, were caught with their pants down and panties hanging. Who supplied the media with the information that the attack at the Resorts Hotel where more than 30 people died, was an act of terrorism and the terrorists were from Isil/Isis? We will try to connect the dots by repeating the question raised earlier: Who gave information to the media, including the social and anti-social, that the people who attacked Marawi City were from Isil/Isis? Is it the government, or is it some covert group? (to be continued)

(Jose L. Escobido studied at the Mindanao State University in Marawi City from 1968 to 1972 where he obtained his AB in political science. Then he proceeded to study law at the College of Law, University of the Philippines where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws in 1976. In 1994, while working at the Office of the Solicitor General, he studied at the National Defense College of the Philippines which awarded him the degree of Masters in National Security Administration. He is a reserved Army lieutenant colonel.)