Martial law Christmas

CAPILLAS

Cagayan de Oro City—The last time I visited the City of Golden Friendship martial law was in effect but somehow, with the exception of the presence of mobile checkpoints, one could hardly feel any tension caused by the sight of soldiers inspecting vehicles that were headed to and out of the airport.

That kind of changed when I arrived at the airport in Laguindingan town, Misamis Oriental yesterday morning and boarded the van, one of many servicing passengers to and from Cagayan de Oro.

After passing through two checkpoints, the van I rode in got stopped at the third checkpoint manned by soldiers and all passengers were told to get out to present their ID cards with only children and the elderly exempted from inspection.

The soldier I presented my ID card to wore a handkerchief to cover his mouth and prevent identification as he nodded and motioned with a shake of his head that I can go back to the van while he inspects the others.

I do wonder why he had to cover his mouth with a handkerchief as he inspected the passengers. Maybe it was the concern that any abuse committed by him and his fellow soldiers will be recorded by cell phone video and it’s best to hide under that handkerchief of anonymity.

The last time I experienced that was back in the early 2000s when then President Joseph Estrada ordered an all-out war against the Moro rebels after peace overtures toward them collapsed.

Seventeen years later and it’s now ISIS and the Maute terror group that had caused this administration to do what had not been done in the past few years since the first Aquino assumed the presidency, which is to declare and impose martial law.

At the onset, despite the tension and anxiety felt by those who still remembered what the first martial law was like, there was mostly relative calm in Cagayan de Oro.

It appeared like business as usual with most city residents moving freely about and protests and voices of dissent still visible with no crackdown on peaceful assembly whatsoever.

Then after the Maute group had been mostly rounded up in Marawi City, there were expectations that martial law will be lifted. But I don’t know who President Rodrigo Duterte listened to that he got convinced about extending martial law for another year in Mindanao.

When word reached them about the President extending martial law in Mindanao, a militant leftist student group held a lightning rally in front of the military’s Camp Evangelista headquarters as a show of defiance.

As far as I know there was no violent dispersal that occurred, though the lightning rally was roundly criticized by pro-Duterte netizens, a lot of whom were teenagers that comprised a sizable chunk of the populace that elected him to office.

Should these protests continue in both social media and the police, it’s still unclear if the military and police will take drastic action and crack down on these protestors.

It’s still too early to see but the minute that soldiers roam the streets and impose a curfew despite no visible signs of terrorist movement, then it would seriously give pause to even the most fanatic follower.

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Still, life goes on and while I hope that martial law will soon be lifted sometime next year, it should not allow us to become lax and drop our guard.
Whoever thought that Abu Sayyaf bandits would ever make it to the backdoor of Central Visayas through Bohol province and try to inflict havoc on its hapless populace?

Community vigilance was the key but while the bandits are quite dangerous by themselves, terrorists like the Maute group and ISIS constitute another, more serious, threat.

A Facebook friend, a veteran media practitioner, warned that the government’s extended martial law declaration in Mindanao will drive the foreign tourists away from Cagayan de Oro City to other parts of the country like Cebu and Bohol.

I hope the President sees that and reconsiders his declaration, since he can impose stringent measures without compromising the liberty and rights of the Mindanaoans.