MARAWI City has been occupied by the Maute fighters. President Digong declared Martial Law in Mindnao. The Armed Forces of the Philippines claimed that earlier the military officials had already the information about the siege. America is helping our military but President Digong does not have personal knowledge about it.
I don’t say it is funny but the military does not work that way. The Maute group has its alliances with other local terrorist groups and even has foreign recruits (as alleged). The Mautes are riding in the sentiments of some Muslims who believe that the Philippine government has not done enough for the welfare of the Muslim society in Mindanao.
This is very clear, starting from the frustration of ex-governor Udtog Matalam (1968) to the separatist group of Nurllahji Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front, who was disappointed by the non-fulfillment of the government of the 1976 Tripoli Agreement that would lead to “Bangsa Moro.” Later, there was this move of Salamat Hashim (2003) to request President George Bush of America. This letter from Moro Islamic Liberation Front would want Bush to assist in resolving their desire to have a Moro Nation.
If PNoy has his “SAF 44,” Duterte has his “Marawi 59” (and the number of heads may still increase). Who died in Marawi? The Filipinos died. Terrorists, soldiers, policemen, and civilians (and some foreigners as alleged) alike died. Who win? The answer could be propaganda from both sides. The Marawi war is not over until it is over.
The Mautes had their meeting before the siege to consider strategic location for their fighters, minus the attendance of Trillanes, Aquino, and Alejano as claimed by Secretary Aguirre. So, there was a plan from the terror group. The terrorists were able to get inside Marawi by having “black border crossing,” getting across a border by the use of illegal concealment.
We would like to presume that our armed forces made “acoustical surveillance” before their ground attack and air strikes. I am referring to the employment of electronic devices, including sound-recording, receiving, or transmitting equipment, for the collection of information. This is possible because the Americans are helping.
Our armed forces know the leaders of the terrorists and their commanders. One thing is sure, they have a “biographical intelligence,” intelligence collection concerning foreign and local personalities from the side of the enemies. This is a war on terror and we very well know that our Department of Defense has the “classified information,” information kept secret to protect national interest.
Before raiding the enemy position, our soldiers started the “continuous illumination fire” (as described by TV reporters), a type of fire in which illuminating projectiles are fired at specified time intervals (at night) to provide lighting over a specified area or target. Before dropping of bombs to target, there should be “air reconnaissance” first, the gathering of intelligence information from aircraft observation.
During one of the air strikes, the friendly force was hit. Was it pilot error? Did something go wrong somewhere? I doubt if our aircraft has automatic throttle (activated by flight control computers), automatic toss (bombing maneuvers is carried out automatically), and automatic rims (flight control system that controls the trim). If there is none, what can we expect?
I would like to believe that the pilot was ordered to have “area bombing only,” bombing of general area instead of a precisely defined target. There should be coordination if we want to avoid the loss of lives. How expert is our pilot in “bombing run” (aircraft bombing including the approach to the target, target acquisition, and the release of the bombs)? Poor pilot, that could be his rehearsal.
When there is coordination, the pilot has to wait for “mark mark,” command from ground controller for an aircraft to release its bombs. “Mark” is a term used to designate the exact time of weapon’s release, usually preceded by the word “standby.” If something is unclear, the pilot may opt for “offset bombing,” any bombing procedure that uses a reference on aiming point other than the actual target.
Other than fighting the remaining 400 terrorists (or more), our armed forces are using psychological consolidation activities, psychological operations, and psychological warfare. They want to win the hearts and minds of the civilians and the enemies. Winning cannot be done alone by bullets alone. Have faith, brothers!