IT'S been over a year since Maute terrorists took over Marawi City on May 23, 2017 and a five-month war broke out necessitating the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao.
Through the media and even in social media we saw how the government sent troops to Marawi City to liberate it. With some soldiers equipped with a Go Pro camera, we even saw some action on the field.
One of those deployed on the field is Major Dr. Abdul-Aziz Ontok, a neurosurgery resident based in Metro Manila and part of the AFP Health Service Command and he gave us a glimpse through his Instagram account.
He shared snippets. Some graphic, others simple, but like a true soldier, never revealing an ongoing operation.
His first Instagram post about the deployment was on May 25, 2017 where he showed a photo of his bag with his camouflage jacket on top.
On July 15, 2017, he posted a photo of himself lying on the grass with a placard above him with the words written "From Marawi with love." The post went viral and was even featured by some news outlets.
On October 4, 2017, he posted about being relieved from his post, marking the end of the siege. The liberation of Marawi was declared on October 17, 2017.
"My post was relieved already. It was like reading a book with a torn and lost 'the end' page... I wonder how the victorious moment during the end of the war will be... the flag raising in the soon-former main battle area may be very emotional... really, really emotional," Ontok said on his Instagram post.
"The hundred thank yous of soldiers and commanders, the thumbs up, the tears of joy, the lives saved, the esprit-de-corps, pushing one another to uplift the team's morale despite all the odds, are memories to keep," he said.
Two days later he made another post narrating what went on after being relieved from his post.
"My team accompanied me to the city where I'll be having my C130 flight. While waiting for my flight we had a short debriefing, not a formal one," Ontok said.
He said they checked out the bright lights of the city, air conditioned malls, and wore their civilian clothes for the first time.
"For a short period of time, we forgot the hostility of the place where we came from," Ontok said. His team returned to Marawi, he was left at the station hospital in Cagayan de Oro City to wait for his C130 flight.
"Trying to wallow in my solitude, I roamed around the hospital where casualties from the front lines were evacuated. Thoughts played deep inside thankful to see that these men were alive -- thanks to my team and other medical teams who were efficient in providing emergency care in the front line," Ontok said.
"Without a good emergency care, these casualties may have not reached the hospital. I was glad to see that they were together with their families already." He stayed at the hospital for three days.
"Three eccentric and tormenting days," he said.
His team, the firefight, the bombs, the destruction, the troops moving out and coming back incomplete, the casualties, and the deaths are some of the things he thinks about while lying in bed.
"So many thoughts ran through my head until I realized that my pillow was wet already from tears... I composed myself and justified it by telling myself that this is just a simple case of post deployment depression," Ontok said.
Back in Manila, he headed for Northern Luzon to visit his best friend.
"Together with his wife, they advised me to go around the city and do what I love to do... They knew that taking pictures is one of my stress relievers; they took me to places where I could just point and shoot my camera phone. To forget, smile, and be myself again," Ontok said.
It was nearly a year later when he started sharing more details of his experience during the liberation of Marawi. Dubbed as Memoirs of Marawi, a 15-part Instagram post, Ontok not only gives us a first-hand experience when he was on the field but also his background as a military doctor.
Ontok, during his time as a Probationary Second Lieutenant, was part of the team that developed the Army Transformation Roadmap 2028 where they crafted the Program of Instruction of the Casualty Management and Evacuation Training (CMET) for the activation of the Forward Support Medical Companies of the Philippine Army.
"I had the chance to study and teach Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) in different divisions of the Philippine Army. It was a humbling experience that was crucial for my transition from a civilian physician to a military doctor," Ontok said. Some of the soldiers on the field were his students on TCCC.
His acquired knowledge on CMET and TCCC came in handy as a team leader for the medical team.
It was on May 23, 2017 when Ontok was ordered to go to Marawi.
"Major Ontok, may giyera sa Marawi. Ikaw and idedeploy namin - taga Mindanao ka, Muslim ka, nakapunta ka na doon, surgeon ka, naging company commander ka na rin dati," his commander said, which he quoted on his post.
"Yes ma'am," he said without any hesitation. It was his first combat zone deployment. Mixed emotions, he said, but also thrilled to be part of liberating the Islamic city.
The deployment was delayed a few days because the helicopter that was to bring them to the embattled city was shot by an enemy sniper.
"It didn't crash but for security purposes, a strategy must be devised so that we would arrive in the main battle area safely," Ontok said.
His impressions upon arrival: "It was beyond describable -- like the ending of the Silent Hill movie. Looking through the eyes of the soldiers in the landing zone who escorted us made me think if they could ever go back alive to their families. I checked my teammates, I couldn't feel any excitement from them anymore. Few hours ago we were all excited."
He also asked himself if some of his team mates will be able to make it back alive to their families too.
"I called for a meeting immediately, which was disturbed by intermittent sounds of gunshots nearby," Ontok said.
The signal for cellular phone network was poor in the area and was among the challenges they had to face when it came to communicating with higher headquarters.
"I needed to be on a high ground or an open area to get a one bar signal; the brightness of the screen must be set to the lowest also as part of light discipline -- snipers might be around," Ontok said.
Ontok set in place efforts to establish a systematic forward health care services and evacuation system in the main battle area.
"The first thing we did is establish an aid station. We found a house that was still under construction and furnished it by using what we have and improvised things that we still do not have," he said.
Ontok also consolidated other medical teams in the area so that they will have a centralized command and control of forward health services.
He also implemented the use of military triaging colors and standard evacuation categories to allow easier communication with health care providers on the field.
"I requested for printed casualty cards so that endorsement from different levels of care upon evacuation would be more convenient, in addition to proper documentation care," Otok said, adding that these were placed inside ziplocks to be protected from sweat, blood, and rain.
They also established an evacuation system with the Philippine Air Force. "There was also a time when we noticed an increasing trend of fever and diarrhea among the troops... We have no diagnostic tools to confirm the cases but we assumed that these were due to poor hygiene and nutrition... worsened by daily heavy rain and scattered decomposing bodies," Ontok said.
He said soldiers would share to him how some of them would suddenly poo while on a mission or cough, giving away their location.
"I remembered in my TCCC lectures that the US Armed Forces had a combat pill pack distributed to every soldier who goes to the war," Ontok said.
He said they improvised a similar combat pill pack with necessary medicines and distributed it to the soldiers.
They also ensured that there is psychological first aid and mental health awareness in the area, aside from educating the troops on battlefield medicine in anticipation of situations where there will be no medics around.
"Experiencing the improvement of the forward health services first-hand was priceless," Ontok said, adding that the TCCC lectures he conducted to some soldiers in the past came in handy during the siege. He was moving around with a nurse and a driver to casualty collecting points in the battlefield.
"Some were 50 meters away from the firefight; some were 100 to 200 meters away from where the bombs were dropped, some were about a kilometer away," Ontok said.
He said there were also incidents where he had to be in the actual firefight to apply tactical field care as ordered by the ground commander.
He recalled one time when the ambulance could no longer go any further amid a gunfight, but they had to retrieve a wounded soldier.
"His buddies were calling while firing their rifles... 'Sir, tulungan niyo kami sir...' I could see the fear in their eyes, the eagerness to neutralize the enemies, and the plea to help their buddy stay alive," he said. "I ran toward the wounded soldiers while his buddies were returning fire as my cover. I carried him and ran back immediately to the ambulance... It was later that I realized that I was not wearing any protective vests,"
Every dead soldier tore at his heart, and he saw them every day.
When they ran out of cadaver bags, he requested for more and was sent 100 pieces.
"Clearly, I was not completely happy when I received them," he added.
In combat, the medical team also serves as a beacon of hope, and all they could do was pray that the siege will be over soon.
"The Medical Team must be one of the sources of their hope as part of holistic care. Despite the hurt inside, we smiled, encouraged them, and pushed them to keep on fighting until the liberation of the city," Ontok said.
The memories remain vivid, he said.
"Even if I try to erase the appalling experiences, at the back of my mind, I am still grateful that I have directly supported our troops. Neither award nor travel abroad is necessary commensurate to the accomplishments in the main battle area during the siege," Ontok said.