New normal

Netnet Camomot

THE Marawi siege is finally over as announced by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana last Monday—yes, on its fifth “monthsary” no less.

We could almost hear the Maranaos’ deep sigh of relief as they now prepare to return to their hometown and brace themselves for what lies ahead once they see the main battle area for the first time.

I don’t know if they’re also looking forward to living in an open city once the rebuilding is complete. But we, its potential tourists, want Marawi to be a future R&R destination in Mindanao.

Marawi was known to be a dumping ground for kidnapping victims, carnapped cars, and bodies—allegedly, reportedly, supposedly. Even Maranaos would encourage visitors then to leave their city by 1 pm.

There’s an area near Cagayan de Oro’s Cogon Market that was known as a dumping ground for stolen goods. If, say, your car antenna is lost, simply contact the right people and—voila!—your antenna is miraculously found. But that was in the ’90s when people living there looked the other way once a robbery was in progress—better act innocent than be involved as a crime’s witness.

Yup, each country, province, city, town, village, barrio, or barangay has its own reputation. Much like Harvey Weinstein now having a reputation as a sexual harasser and even as a rapist. Negative publicity, however, is only good for a showbiz wannabe who needs constant media exposure and any publicity, no matter how bad it is, can be made good by spin doctors. But once the wannabe morphs into a star, spin doctoring can only do so much. John Lloyd Cruz going bonkers with Ellen Adarna? Advise him to have an indefinite leave of absence to save his home studio from more wag-the-dog spins.

Marawi’s new administration was already on its way to rehabilitating the city with traffic rules, clearing its streets and sidewalks of vendors and garbage. We were then looking forward to going back there for a vacation, the way we plan a visit to Tagaytay and Baguio. But when the siege happened, we gotta feeling that some of its residents were not ready for their city to be open to the madlang pehpohl 24/7. They had become so used to their visitors’ 1 pm departure. I guess all of us are that way, reluctant to adapt to change, refusing to accept that change is the only constant thing in the world. We want only our people to be in our small circle, assured of their loyalty.

Guess what. A best friend can still be one’s worst traitor. Once she reveals something about you, people believe her because, well, she’s your best friend, she’s your confidante, she supposedly knows your secrets. Now, what kind of a best friend is that? When she can’t even be described anymore as your friend? Loyalty left the building the moment she started gossiping about you.

Marawi also had its seemingly loyal friends, only to be attacked by them last May 23. Its residents now have to ponder on the real meaning of loyalty.

In their seeming fear of change, change still happened to Marawi anyway, and the extensive damage wrought by the siege is one transformation that its residents were not prepared for.

Architect Jun Palafox has suggested preserving the main battle area as a memorial for the siege. Hmmm. A la Auschwitz, Poland for the Holocaust? But he cited Hiroshima, the ground zero for World War II’s atomic bombing, as an example.

Some Maranaos are already expressing their disapproval to this memorial as it may encourage more attacks from other extremists who recruit potential members via social media to attract like-minded people. Anyone with repressed angst now has a venue for venting their anger, that’s why each shooting episode, such as the ones in Las Vegas and Resorts World Manila, is suspected to be a form of extremism or terrorism but authorities classify it as “pure evil” if it has no political objective. Much like the best friend who gossips—finally, evil has a face.

There were looters in Marawi, suspected to be both from the military and the Maute group. Was the looting an act of extremism? Terrorism? Did it have a political objective?

Palafox has estimated Marawi’s reconstruction to be $8 billion or P410 billion in a span of 50 years.

50 years! Millennials will be 65 to 85 years old by then. And all along I thought our Generation X can have that Marawi vacation five years from now.

Still, we are also heaving a deep sigh of relief now that the siege is over. Rebuilding Marawi can finally begin.

The rebuilding should have begun decades ago before all this bad press about Marawi could morph into its new normal. Oh, well.