BEFORE the Marawi Siege, many Marawi residents would say that there is very poor law implementation in the city. Now that Martial Law has been implemented, people there are now on their toes to abide the law.
In 2012, our journalism professor instructed us to go to the Marawi City’s Banggolo police station to find police reports to write about for our news writing class.
However, the police officers themselves were reluctant to allow us to write anything about the reports, even though the blotter reports are public documents. This was because they wanted to spare us from being caught up in the mess of the families involved in the reports.
They warned us that it was for our own safety, mentioning that some people simply report things – both true and false – in these documents. If we stick our noses to matters that would ‘shame’ their families, we might get involved in the misdirected ‘maratabat’ or ‘pride’ of the families.
And this discord often involves guns and violence.
To our instructor’s dismay, she pulled us out of this assignment for our safety.
Even other Meranaws who work here in Marawi would say the same thing: Marawi had suffered from poor law implementation.
Years ago, people who were trying to shoot each other in the streets was a normal scene in Marawi. It could be because of ‘rido’ or ‘clan feud’, or ‘maratabat’ which is taken the wrong way.
Meranaws would be wary of who they ‘bump’ in order to steer clear of their wrong ‘maratabat’ and keep their lives. They wouldn’t especially make enemies out of those who belong from big clans.
To some violent ones, even the simple act of not getting allowed to overtake in the road would cause them to meltdown. It would end in an argument on the road or would cause them to brandish their illegal firearms in broad daylight.
Residents would shake their heads, saying that there are just simply some people here who have no fear of the law because they can simply scare off police officers or barangay tanods with their own firearms or their clan’s reputation.
They would continue to act rashly because they felt invincible. Road violence, murder, holdups, ransacks, theft, drug trade, kidnappings – these are just some of the crimes people witness everyday in this city years ago. Some would get reported to the police. Some stay as simply reports – never to be solved. Some narratives would not even reach the police anymore.
In Mindanao State University at around 2012 as well, the University’s Peace Keeping Force reported low crime rates in the campus, according to their records.
However, the students differed, saying that it was because they saw the Unit’s incompetence, making some victims opt not to report their cases anymore, thereby resulting to what is reflected as relatively low crime rates.
However, since Martial Law was implemented in Marawi, people are starting to ‘get used to obeying the rules and the law’, since personnel with ‘stronger firearms’ are now in town. Traffic and road rules have improved in the city, and people are now mindful of their actions since the military’s arrival. Due sanctions are also finally given to the offenders.
A statement from a group in Marawi was released that said that children in Lanao del Sur have had difficulty going to school because of the militarization in the area.
However, kids involved in clan wars have since suffered from the lawlessness in Lanao del Sur and are prevented from going to school and living out normal lives because of events such as clan wars. They were not allowed to normally go out in fear that they might get shot anytime by the opposing clan.
Now that militarization is implemented in Lanao del Sur, cases of ‘ridos’ in public area are deterred or minimized because of the stricter supervision of the military. If threats are monitored and neutralized by the military, children and all other citizens can live normal lives and go out securely.
However, the militarization in Marawi is not foolproof nor is it perfect. There have still been some cases of murder in the city, such as what happened last week inside a mosque in MSU Marawi. There have also been some other murders committed the previous weeks with unknown motives.
Still, there is a need to acknowledge the fact that crime rates have significantly lessened since Marawi’s militarization, even though having zero crimes was not fulfilled.
Also, I do not dismiss the need to monitor the military personnel in Marawi. There is still a need to check on each personnel’s actions as to prevent them from indulging in potential abuses or human rights violations.
It has already been proven in the Stanford prison experiment in August 1971 that when a person is given much authority over a seemingly vulnerable person, he or she has the propensity to become abusive.
Furthermore, the military has also been reported for abuses in some Lumad areas in Mindanao. I do hope that Marawi would not be subjected to the same case.
Personally, I also find the military checkpoints a hassle, especially the curfews and the times when you have to get off your vehicle and rummage for your ID to show to the officers. I bet some residents have it rougher.
But this is all part of neutralizing the possibility of another insurgency in Marawi and in order to make the city ‘get used’ to the law.
(rizsunio@gmail.com)