Blogger's Notes:
Commentary of an Academic
(Copyright @ 2017 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved).
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| Photo courtesy of Google |
Prince Hamlet’s soliloquy in William
Shakespeare’s famous one-liner opening phrase, “to be or not to be?” paints a
backdrop of the forbidding scenario that still looms many Filipinos’
consternation about the fate of Marawi under the IS-inspired terrorist groups. It
bespeaks sorrow and pain that bemoans myriad of death of Filipinos – be it
civilians, soldiers, and terrorists. The realism in Russian novelist Leo
Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece on ‘War and Peace’ downplays Philippine contemporary
period parallel to machinations of violent battles in the name of a false
united caliphate, power play of superpowers in aid of counterterrorism
measures, and the usurpation of legal power of statesmen vested with political
will to crush terrorism visible to fallen Marawi City.
The irony sows a harrowing inquiry on
the role of the Philippine security sector in training Filipino soldiers as
prescribed by policymakers on the orientation and reorientation of tactical
operations and strategies in solving the Marawi conundrum. Should soldiers
become peace builders or war fighters amid heavy causes of jihadi terrorism? This current quandary is the biggest challenge
to date for the Philippine government on its bid to stabilize internal insecurity
that reckons a “wake up call” for the defense sector to constantly train and
educate the military.
Prior to 9/11 the Philippines has been
combating terrorism as it dwelt the nontraditional security threat as forms of
multi-faceted phenomenon dissecting it from the prisms of cultural, historical,
legal, philosophical, political, psychological, and technological lenses. It
resembles an iceberg constituting the tip of shocking attacks with wide base founding
substantial concerns on the persistence of religious radicalization and
poverty. To annihilate and wipe out an iceberg, one must destroy it from the
base. Similarly, terrorism should be treated properly to conscientiously
address the issues that support the tip.
More than three months of fierce fighting
with the jihadi terrorists in urban setting in Marawi has caused the Armed
Forces of the Philippines a big ‘Black Hawk Down’ trap despite precedence of
urban rebellion during the Zamboanga siege in 2013. Failure of intelligence
sharing and interoperability were attributed to the weakness of military
operations to contain immediately the terrorist cells in Mindanao. More than
that, myriad of soldiers and military officers felt short of the redirection that
the military’s principal duty is to fight war and to win it by hook or by
crook.
Terrorism in Marawi has changed the
rules of the game of war as Filipino soldiers continuously struggle to win the
war at home. Military doctrines must evolve to be armed with hybrid and
unconventional strategies to counter the sophisticated tactics acquired by
jihadi terrorists in a well-planned crucible.
The abstract of ideology intrigues
everyone as it allows believers to make sense of the world around them. It arms
them with values, moral frameworks, and the ability to understand and add
meanings in relations. More so, the apparent contest of ideology brings a
winning chance to local terrorists in their holistic approach not only to sow
their goodwill in their own perspective as to give hope to the poor and
neglected people of Mindanao but also their mastery of geography and training
in urban warfare remain an advantage.
With the global paradigm shifts of war
studies to peace studies in trying to bridge the conflicting ideologues in
military education, to some extent prescribing developmental dimensions as the
key solution to the complex and changing security landscape, nonetheless, this
rhetoric will not bring immediate stability in Marawi. Terrorists do not subscribe
to either school of thought rather they will deconstruct the order in meeting
the means to justify the end. Sowing terrorism breeds unethical norms at the
expense of the populace that permeates disorder to unearth rancor and grievance
to the misfortune of the government.
The synergy of action from the defense
sector to professionalize the Philippine military is underscored to value
higher education that must be based on wisdom that the security landscape
requires a transformation in education and development of broad competencies.
The dilemma of a war fighting and peace building formal education must
transcend beyond the volatility of defense and security but rather it should emerge
as a catalyst of change in protecting the survival of nations and peoples.
There are no good templates from around
the world to substantiate the resolution of terrorism in Mindanao. The Marawi
siege is a case of its own that must become a lesson to all that terrorism is indeed
real in Southeast Asia and across the globe.
