By: Johnny Dayang
ONLY days ago, the government euphorically declared Marawi City liberated from the occupation and control by Islamic terrorists, a feat that no doubt has contemporary global significance. The achievement is surely reason enough for jubilation and celebration both by the security forces and the thousand of internally displaced residents whose home City has been enmeshed is the threats of Islamic extremism.
Marawi’s liberation comes at a time when Mindanao’s march towards progress is in an intense upsurge. Thus, despite the declaration of martial law in the South, as a consequence of the city’s siege and urban attack, things in Mindanao have virtually been running normally.
If Davao City is the measure of how martial law has impacted Mindanao there is optimism to expect that with Marawi’s rehabilitation, emotional adjustments, amity and sense of solidarity among the Islamic City’s Moro and Christian residents will indeed grow even stronger.
Marawi’s significance in the overall growth of Mindanao cannot be underestimated. The city, historically, has been a key academic hub and a center for Islamic studies until it was dragged into the crosshairs by Islamic extremists who violated rational Koranic principles.
Temporary as the crisis may have been, suppressing it took time and new threats may surface anytime if complacency sits in. Marawi’s liberation also underscores the government’s resolve to pursue long term peace and inclusive growth.
Threats remain lurking in the countryside and transforming Marawi into a safe and cosmopolitan destination has its share of risks. The lessons learned from the menace of urban terrorism, however, should strengthen the resolve to rise, stand up and march onward to progress, preferably without martial law.
Aside from highlighting the porous situation in Mindanao, the Marawi siege affirms the proposition and attempts to put religious color into terrorism has not prospered. Victimized by bloody struggles through the centuries, Mindanaons have found out, though belatedly, that aggression of any kind only aggravates their problems.
Nowhere in time has Mindanao been a focus of massive investments than in the Duterte administration. This development does not only highlight the role Mindanao plays in the country’s backdoor growth; it also accentuates the relevance the South contributes in the Philippines’ overall socio-economic landscape.
With martial law getting its own positive reviews after Marawi’s liberation from terrorists, the Islamic city’s future seems even brighter.