Betrayal and hypocrisy (2)

Jeremy Simons

2nd of three parts

DUNEDIN, New Zealand — During President Duterte’s speech to the Wallace Business forum in December 2016, the President also alluded to the demands and counter demands of the Maute-Opapp negotiations that happened during and after Butig was overran. He said: “We took consideration of the Maute rebellion going on in Lanao. And they said that they are willing to pull out… And they demanded that we stop the offensive… and I said they would stop fighting, provided we stop the offensive or not, they said that they will go down upon Marawi to burn the place. And I said, ‘Go ahead, do it.’”

One of the economic drivers of this relationship is revealed in Duterte’s next comment at the Wallace forum, in response to the threat by Maute to “burn the place.” Duterte said: “We need to do a lot of constructions in this country. There are a lot of materials there and we will be glad to rebuild and rehabilitate every structure that you destroy. As long it’s confined in the areas of Lanao, I don’t really care.”

Thus, as we contemplate the reconstruction of Marawi, we see the rash overconfidence of a President willing to sacrifice the people and place of Lanao for the economic benefit of construction contractors and the political safety of his Lanao political affiliates.

Duterte also needed to keep Solitario safe because he, as one of the premier recognized leader in the Marawi clans, was also a key player in the Lanao del Sur provincial PDP-Laban party of Duterte, that he ran under in the 2016 election. That was revealed in a text message sent in the last quarter of 2016 where Solitario told his partymates to withdraw their support for Duterte as he and his brother Pre were included in the drug watch list released by Duterte on Aug. 7, 2016.

Thus, though Dureza was unable to remove Solitario or Pre’s name from the drug watch list, he made no attempt to bring in law enforcement, and the drug-accused former politican of Marawi worked for Opapp for at least five more months (the Inquirer mentions his first direct Opapp work happening in November), until the two lists of people with rebellion arrest warrants were released in late May and early June, respectively, and Dureza was forced to revoke Solitario’s contract with Opapp.

Dureza stated, according to the Manila Bulletin, that when Solitario’s name was included in the arrest orders pursuant to the declaration of martial law, “I revoked his consultancy arrangement with Opapp… (He) stayed in a safe sanctuary outside the city but kept in touch making suggestions on how to deal with the developing incidents.”

How did Dureza stay in touch with a wanted man and where was this safe sanctuary?

Another key player mentioned in newspaper reports of the Maute and Salic negotiations is the Quijano clan of Iligan, who benefits from their role as negotiators in resolving the many kidnappings that have occurred over the years in Northern Mindanao. Some believe that Solitario’s “safe sanctuary” was at one point the Phividec Industrial Authority in Misamis Oriental where Franklin Quijano was appointed administrator and CEO by President Duterte on July 14, 2017, at the recommendation of Dureza.

While Solitario had been welcomed into the “safe sanctuary” provided by his and Dureza’s long-time political ally Quijano, Dureza made intensive efforts to clear Solitario’s name and remove him from the second list of people with warrants of arrest for rebellion, successfully getting his name removed from that list on Aug. 16, 2017. According to Mindanews, Dureza then, “e-mailed the copies [of the clearances removing Solitario, Pre, and Arafat being subject to arrest warrant] to former iligan Mayor Franklin Quijano to pass them on to Omar Solitario.”

However, that decision was reversed just six days later on Aug. 22 by Defense Secretary and Martial Law administrator Gen. Delfin Lorenzana, who stated, “It was Dureza who wants to utilize him kaya humingi siya ng clearance, only to find out that the military, police and Muslim leaders don’t want them released for complicity in the Marawi siege and illegal drugs.” Furthermore,  Lorenzano stated, “I told him (Dureza)…. we are not stopping the gathering of info about (Solitario’s) alleged connection to the Mautes and illegal drugs”.[ix] After this reversal, Solitario apparently fled to Manila, where he would be “beyond the reach” of the martial law adminstrator.

The extent of the cozy relationship with Dureza and Solitario in kidnapping negotiations goes back even before the kidnapping of Comelec commissioner Elias Yusoph in 2010, where Dureza met with Solitario for lunch to help with negotiations, and in a Mindanews article declared, “I have been here for so long that I can weave in and out and go to various political leaders and parties in Mindanao.”

A long-time observer to the peace process notes that Solitario was one of Dureza’s (who was a congressman at the time) key partners in dealing with local kidnapping groups active during the Cory Aquino days. When Dureza worked for president Ramos as Mindanao advisor in the 1990s and later as peace negotiator for Arroyo whose administration spanned nearly a decade (2001 to 2010), Solitario was a key player in the peace process, having risen to the mayorship of Marawi city (2001 to 2007).

Meanwhile, Franklin became mayor of Iligan City (1998 to 2004) and his brother Robert “Bob” Quijano started a non-governmental organization in Iligan. They are described as “inseparable… Franklin is the open politician, [Bob] is the underground player who has the contacts with the various underground groups… But both of them are very committed to conflict resolution and are known to be involved in facilitating the release of kidnap victims.” As key governmental and non-governmental players in Northern Mindanao, they are well known to numerous advocates and civil society across the island, including this author.

Along the way, the family members of Solitario Ali and Pre Salic allegedly became very involved in the illegal ecnomy of Lanao, so that in a raid this past June 2017 the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency found five kilograms of shabu along with pro-Isis paraphernalia in the home of Pre, and Solitario’s son, Arafat Salic. In the CNN article reporting the raid, PNP-Mindanao Drug Enforcement Chief Santos stated, “Druglord din siya kasama rin siya sa high value targets natin dito sa Marawi. Kasama siya sa may arrest order… Alam naman natin na sila former Mayor Salic at mga kapatid niya are known drug lords sa Marawi.”

Still, some local leaders believe that Solitario was not the one directly involved in drug trading, rather, that his brother Pre and son Arafat were the primary drug lords. This theory states that Solitario was unable to control them and was forced to protect them in order to save himself. In fact, there were times over the years, when the two maternal clans of Solitario and Pre feuded and almost escalated into rido (revenge killings), but it was only the intervention of other clan leaders that prevented further violence. In spite of this, manipulating and being caught between powerful external forces and shifting alliances, the reputation of the family, the dictates of culture and clan honor (maratabat), demand the protection of relatives, even those involved in illicit activities and radicalisation, however disturbing and disastrous.

In this way, we can see that the roots of the Davao bombing, and eventually, the Marawi siege, had much less to do with international terrorism, and more to do with traditional clan feuding, political alliances and patronage, exacerbated by the comptetition of local leaders attempting to protect their illegal economies, a volatile combination ignited and inflamed by the infusion of foreign “terror” ideology.

The demonstration in mid-June 2017 by a “third-party” group of traditional Maranao leaders who protested their exclusion from the negotiations was an indicator that these were in fact the underlying dynamic of conflict in the siege.

“Marawi Sultan Hamidullah Atar told reporters… that during the early part of the conflict, the traditional leaders would have talked to the family members of those involved during the attack of the Isis-linked radical groups in Marawi… ‘All of us are relatives. And we are not given the chance to link these relatives and convey the message to negotiate for a peaceful approach.’” (to be concluded)

(Jeremy Simons worked in Davao as a peace and restorative justice advocate from 2008 to 2017. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in New Zealand and can be reached at kalinawsamindanao@gmail.com)