By KEITH BACONGCO
MARAWI CITY – The enemy hid behind walls, in which they bore holes large enough for the barrels of their sniper rifles. Inside houses, they lay in ambush behind book shelves or curtains. And they would conceal improvised explosive devices (IEDs) behind mundane materials like GI sheets or plywood boards.
These were just a few of the challenges in the urban battle that faced the elite Scout Rangers of the Philippine Army, a unit rather steeped in jungle warfare experience, when they were deployed here just days after the Islamic State (IS)-inspired Maute Group started to wreak havoc on May 23.
“We were trained for jungle warfare. This urban warfare was really new to us, we are not used to urban fighting,” Sgt. Jon, a lead scout, said in an interview.
Before Marawi, the only other urban warfare experience they had was a three-week standoff with Moro National Liberation Front (MNFL) fighters in September, 2013, in Zamboanga City.
That was why the Scout Rangers came to this city saddled with some trepidation.
“Medyo may halong kaba dahil alam namin na urban area. Pero excited ako dahil bata pa ako naririnig ko na ang lugar na Marawi na peaceful daw,” Sgt. Jon said.
They were airlifted from Jolo, Sulu on May 25, and immediately plunged into action after arriving here to back-up beleaguered troops who were already pinned down by enemy fire.
“Nag try kami na pumasok the following day pero medyo nahirapan kami dahil naka-pwesto na ang aming mga kalaban, nasa defensive position na kasi sila,” said the battled-hardened 37-year-old from South Cotabato.
A corporal in Sgt. Jon’s team acknowledged that they learned a lot from their battle experience in the city – and nowhere was it near the lessons they had learned from engaging Abu Sayyaf bandits in the jungles of Basilan and Jolo.
“In the jungle, we could easily maneuver around. But here in the urban setting, there were instances we were pinned down. You could not just move from one building to another,” noted Jay, a corporal who has been in the regiment for seven years.
Solid concrete walls, narrow alleys, and multi-story buildings made the fighting even more difficult.
But what was striking to Rangers was that their enemy were bold enough to “engage us face-to-face, and were obviously not afraid to die.”
“Yan ang pinakamahirap na kalaban,” said Jay.
In the first few weeks, Jay said they suffered several casualties or wounded because the terrorists were in more advantageous positions.
“Mapiga talaga ang isip mo dito kung paano mo ma capture ang objective. Kasi hindi kami sanay sa urban fighting. Kung sa bundok lang ito, kaya namin tapusin ang misyon minsan hindi aabot ng isang oras, tapos na ang labanan,” said a 29-year-old Scout Ranger.
But adjust, adapt, and innovate, the Scout Rangers did.
Sgt. Jon said they had to do with little sleep, with an hour’s nap considered a luxury when there was nothing but mayhem and carnage around them. They called this “tulog manok,” a state of rest that allows you to spring back into action at the slightest noise or movement around them.
He added that he and his men didn’t even have a chance to take off their shoes for a month while the encounters with the Maute razed furiously around them. There were even times that they had to eat meals with the bodies of dead terrorists beside them.
That is why the war in Marawi will be best remembered not only for the bravery of the Scout Rangers, but also for their resiliency and ability to adapt and innovate in an entirely unfamiliar territory.
“Magaling din ang tactics nila pero nagawan din namin ng paraan. Pinag-isipan namin as a unit. Hanggang sa nung nasanay na kami, parang naglalaro na lang din kami,” Corporal Jay remembered.
For instance, the terrorists would bore holes in walls, just big enough to fit the barrels of their sniper rifles to take out approaching government forces one-by-one.
There, too, were instances when the Rangers would encounter enemies who were just hiding behind bookshelves.
“Kaya pagpasok mo, hindi mo na mapansin na may tao sa likod kasi di mo makita ang butas sa likod ng bookshelves. Kaya yung iba sa amin na wounded agad pagpasok pa lang,” said the lanky and bearded corporal.
But as the fighting raged, the Rangers were able to adapt and become more cautious with every structure they entered and every block they tried to re-take.
Corporal Jay also admitted that, aside from sniper fire, some of his colleagues were killed by IEDs that were cleverly concealed, many of them in plain-sight.
He cited as an example a narrow alley that connected two buildings that were already occupied by Scout Ranger teams. The pathway was laden with GI sheets, which looked more like debris strewn about by all the fighting and bombing.
“Dinadaanan na namin yun araw-araw. Pero noong mga late July, bigla na lang may sumabog na IED. Kakapasok ko lang sa butas pero ’yung nakabuntot sa akin ang tinamaan sa likod ang aming sarhento,” said the 27-year old Bicolano corporal.
The sergeant expired while on the way to a medic station onboard an armored personnel carrier.
The Scout Rangers later found out that their ill-fated colleague had stepped on a pressure-donated IED hidden beneath the pile of GI sheets.
Jay also said there were times when the enemy would throw Molotov cocktails at them while ascending structures they were already close to re-taking.
“Minsan kung mag clearing kami ng isang building, sinusunog ng mga kalaban. Isa yan sa mga nagpahirap sa amin. Minsan ang iba sa amin tumatalon nalang para lang hindi masunog,” said the corporal.
During these assaults on these buildings, the Scout Rangers would sometimes meet their enemies face-to-face or with just a wall separating them from each other.
“Minsan nga nag-aasaran kami, kantyawan pa. Kapag kinakatok namin ang pader, kumakatok din sila,” Jay said, recalling the bizarre close encounter with the enemy.
It was sometime in August that the Scout Rangers started to feel that the end in the fighting was near.
“Inakyat namin ’yung mataas na building na nakuha namin, tiningnan namin ang lake. Nakaka-high morale nung makita namin kasi pakiramdam namin malapit na kami sa finish line,” Sgt. Jon said.
From the dozens of skirmishes, Sgt. Jon recalls that it was the battle for Banggolo that proved to be most formidable as it took them almost four months to prevail and be able to finally re-capture the four-lane Gomisa Avenue.
The encounters were from building-to-building as they inched their way towards the end of Gomisa, which bared the shores of Lake Lanao.
“Kahit na mahirap ang dinaanan namin dito at marami rin nalagas sa amin, proud pa rin kami sa aming accomplishment dito,” Sgt. Jon said.
