Reporter's Diary: Terror in the East

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May 23, 2017.

The biggest story coming out of the Philippines was not even happening in the Philippines. President Rodrigo Duterte was in Russia, and there was great anticipation over a meeting with his self-proclaimed idol, Russian President Vladimir Putin.

By midday, however, disturbing photos and videos of armed men – in black shirts and masks – started circulating on social media. Residents of Marawi, a Muslim majority city in the Southern Philippines, confirmed hearing gunshots.

Filipino troops are patrolling the streets of Marawi. During the siege, even villages outside the main battle zone were off limits to residents as stray bullets could reach them. /CGTN Photo

“To hear gunshots isn’t new to us. I was in nearby Iligan City when it started. My daughter called me to tell me about what was happening. I told her to close our hardware store. But that was it; my husband and I didn’t rush home. I even bought lipstick and make-up on the way home,” Noraida Salem Latip, a Marawi resident and businesswoman, recounted in an interview with CGTN.

But the photos kept coming - some of which showed the city glowing in flames, and along with them were cries for help as civilians were reportedly taken hostage by militants. The situation was clearly escalating with violence never seen even in a place often disrupted by clan wars. By midnight, President Duterte had placed the entire southern Philippine region, also known as the island of Mindanao, under martial rule.

The war before Marawi

But the story of Marawi didn’t start on May 23, 2017.

Photos of men gathered in what appeared to be Marawi’s Grand Mosque, pledging allegiance to the Islamic State or ISIL, had emerged online in September 2014. A month later, my team and I traveled to Marawi for CGTN for the first time. We found a man who claimed to be an ISIL follower.

After more than 150 days of heavy firefight, Marawi's once bustling commercial district now lies in ruins. /CGTNPhoto

“We sympathize with them. We pray that they achieve their goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate,” the man, who spoke to CGTN on condition of anonymity, said.

Those photos were preceded and followed by videos of other Philippine-based militant groups waving ISIL’s black flag. Analysts warned of a looming threat, but the government downplayed it.

“You cannot prevent some people, some groups from supporting their ideas but there’s no membership monitored here,” Oscar Valenzuela, then chairman of the country’s Anti-Terrorism Council, said.

Two years later, ISIL’s black flag was raised in Butig, a town not far from Marawi. A relatively unknown militant group called Maute – derived from the last name of its leaders – had occupied the town. Their goal was to establish a wilayat or a province of ISIL’s then-expanding caliphate; Butig, the hometown of the Maute matriarch, was to be the foundation.

The military had to fight militant snipers, who were well-positioned, with their own snipers. It was a close-quarter battle that jungle-hardened Filipino troops had to adapt to. /CGTN Photo

But the military was able to retake Butig fairly quickly after it launched an offensive. The militants retreated into hiding, and there was relatively quiet until May 23, 2017.

The Marawi siege

A day after ISIL-allied militants seized Marawi, the Philippines’ Defense Secretary, Delfin Lorenzana, denied any failure of intelligence. As a matter of fact, what started it all was an operation by security forces to capture Isnilon Hapilon, one of the leaders of the Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, who was then considered emir of ISIL in Southeast Asia.

“The planning and the stockpiling and the preparation must have been advanced that the raid didn’t do much difference, and may have brought it forward by 48 hours. But it still raises the question of why wasn’t there an appreciation of how far advanced the planning actually was,” Sidney Jones of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said at a forum in Manila.

Lorenzana admits underestimating the strength and number of the enemy. Duterte and defense officials imposed deadline after deadline that ground troops were not able to meet. Victory did come, but not after more than 150 days of intense battles resulting in the death of more than a thousand, including dozens of civilians and some 160 soldiers.

More than a thousand died in the months-long siege of Marawi, including some 160 soldiers and dozens of civilians. Many of them were buried in mass graves. /CGTN Photo

“It was the end of the month of May. Our comrades were wounded so we went to rescue them. When one of my men returned for the third time, he was shot dead by an enemy sniper,” recalled 2nd Lt. Alfredo Racho, Jr. of the Philippine Marines, during an interview with CGTN.

All throughout the months-long siege, there was an endless stream of stories of sacrifice and heroism. Whenever hostages were rescued or were able to escape, there was a collective sigh of relief. But there were also heartbreaking – and disappointing – moments; for instance, learning that military air strikes had killed ground troops not once, but twice.

Military airstrikes were, in fact, one of the biggest sources of grief for residents of Marawi.

“I saw a photo of our house online. It looked burnt; everything was black. ‘We risked our lives to protect our property for nine days, but it still ended up getting bombed,’ I told my husband. It hurts so much,” Marawi resident Noraida Salem Latip said.

Air strikes pounded Marawi's business district almost every day during the siege. The military said they were necessary to draw the enemies out. /CGTN Photo

Latip says she does understand why the military had to drop bombs; all she asks is for the government to extend the proportionate amount of assistance to victims like her. The military, for its part, has maintained that the air strikes were necessary.

“This type of warfare dates back to World War II. If you look at when the armies attacked another army that was embedded into an urban terrain such as this one, they had to use heavy artillery or aerial bombardment in order to draw out the enemy or kill them on site,” Col. Romeo Brawner, deputy commander of Task Force Ranao, said.

Jungle-hardened Filipino soldiers eventually won, but it was a learning experience – one that came at the expense of the heart and soul of a city and its people. The government has vowed to rebuild Marawi, which is no doubt a monumental undertaking, made even more challenging by the lingering influence of ISIL.

Beyond the siege

“Here in the Philippines, we have minority Muslim communities who’ve been suffering injustice. There may be an ongoing peace process, but negotiations have been protracted so there haven’t been tangible results. It’s a perfect ingredient to introduce a new form ideology,” Zia Alonto Adiong, a regional assemblyman, and spokesperson of the Marawi crisis committee told CGTN in an interview.

Many structures in Marawi are beyond recognition. The Philippine government says it could take four years to rebuild the city. /CGTN Photo

Their defeat – and the death of their leaders – do not appear to have deterred extremists who survived the siege of Marawi. On Jan. 20, six soldiers were wounded in their first encounter with ISIL-linked fighters since October last year. But the greater danger still lies in the vulnerability of ISIL’s ideology spreading.

In Butig, site of the first battle between the military and Maute group, I met students who entertained the possibility of joining the ranks of ISIL. A teacher told me some of their graduates died fighting with the Mautes both in Butig and in Marawi. They were teenagers who may have been swayed by the promise of jihad or what they regard as the holy war.

“To get to heaven is ultimately what every Muslim wants. The easiest way to achieve that is to die in a jihad,” 13-year old “Abdul,” a former student of the Mautes, told CGTN.

"Abdul," 13, was a former recruit of the Maute group. Although he backed out of combat training, he says he still believes there is nothing wrong with killing Christians who refuse to convert to Islam. /CGTN Photo

He got dangerously close to combat training but held back because he couldn’t leave his mother, a single parent. It doesn’t mean, however, that he’s had a complete change of heart. His last words to me were terrifying.

“In my view, ISIL is not the enemy. I don’t think they’ve done any harm. The only ones they’re killing are Christians who don’t want to become Muslims.”