Mautes left in Marawi now in ‘suicide mode,’ academic says

By Nora Soriño
Iligan City Bureau Chief/

The remaining terrorists in the city of Marawi are now in “suicide mode.”

This was the statement of Dr. Rommel Banlaoi, chair and executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence, and Terrorism Research. Banlaoi, who is also an independent security analyst added that the fact that the remaining group in the city is not leaving inspite of the area they control there is getting smaller. “They’re now in a suicide mission,” he stressed.

He also added that martial law is not the solution in the long run.

“Yong pag-iisip talaga,” he said.

He added too that with the terrorists now being hounded and displaced in their enclaves in Iraq and Syria, their sights are now trained in Mindanao. The island now is their choice, being “porous” and  having so many entry and exit points and the government forces cannot attend to all these points.

There are three urban areas that they have identified as their targets in the near future, he said as these could produce “maximum effect.”

He declined though to name the three as he does not want to “preempt” the security men of the country.

As to whether Isnilon Hapilon is still there in Marawi, Banlaoi said he cannot answer categorically but “vital info” from the parents of the Maute brothers were extracted by the authorities after they had been arrested.

Metro Manila  as a possible target cannot be discounted too, the researcher said as this is the seat of government and important happenings in the country are scheduled, such as the Asean meetings.

As to whether there’s a link between those personalities in the illegal drugs trade and the terrorists, he said that it is possible but there’s “no deep study yet” on the matter.

It’s also not possible to really tell how many terrorists there are now in Marawi as the numbers differ from time to time. These men too have “force multipliers from other southease Asian countries,” he said.