DAVAO CITY—Residents across Mindanao expressed discomfort at the heightened security measures imposed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police in the cities, but generally gave the government their tacit support to operate against the terror group that mounted attacks in Marawi City and surrounding towns in Lanao del Sur.
Allan Valmores, a supplier of industrial equipment in Iligan City, noted a long traffic queue in the eastern and western approaches to that industrial city, but was surprised at the quiet traffic flow in the downtown area.
“It moves so slowly as the checkpoints meticulously inspect cars, trucks, motorcycles, practically all vehicles going to Iligan City,” he told the BusinessMirror in a mobile-phone interview.
In General Santos City the Army manned the checkpoints at the southeastern and western approaches to the downtown area.
“Some residents are wary because they used to see the police in the checkpoints,” City Administrator Teodorico Dumagan said. “But it’s still normal.”
Television footage since Tuesday night showed the mounting of highway checkpoints, especially in Iligan City, the exit point from Marawi City and the other troubled lakeside towns of Lanao del Sur, where the Maute Group surprised government forces when they ambushed a military patrol and made quick sweeps at some towns.
Another band of the Maute Group also swooped down into the province’s capital of Marawi City, hoisting a black flag resembling that of the Middle East-based terror group, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis) at a government hospital near the provincial police headquarters.
There were also pockets of fighting as the Maute Group burned down two government buildings before withdrawing.
President Duterte, who just arrived in Moscow for a scheduled five-day working visit, declared martial law in the entire Mindanao area, explaining the move as preemptive, to prevent elements sympathetic to the Maute Group from pulling off diversionary or support attacks.
The government identified the Maute Group in Lanao del Sur, the Bangsamoro Islamic Fighting Force in Maguindanao and the Abu Sayyaf Group in Sulu as among the groups capable of launching terror attacks on civilian targets.
Some places in Mindanao traditionally unaffected or seldom made as targets of terror attacks, did not see unusual or heightened military and police movements.
Remedios Rara-Sarzuelo, city agriculturist of Malaybalay, Bukidnon, told the BusinessMirror there were no additional checkpoints although a barangay outside Malaybalay was the hometown of a female police superintendent caught at a highway checkpoint in Bohol last month apparently about to rescue beleaguered Abu Sayyaf attackers.
“But people are becoming anxious of the martial-law declaration because of the country’s experience before,” she said.
In Kiamba town in Sarangani, a coastal town going to another flashpoint of conflict before in Sultan Kudarat, there was no visible addition of checkpoints in the only highway linking all the other towns along western side of Sarangani Bay.
“People are watching the news and closely monitoring what would turn out later,” said Nicandro Dalman, whose wife was a former mayor of the town.
“Residents here in Iligan City are happy that finally, the government is bent on stopping these terrorists,” Valmores said, adding the city sidewalks were visibly clear of Maranao venders, who used to occupy them all around the city.
It was the same sentiment expressed by Malaybalay City residents, as well as those in Kiamba town and General Santos City. However, they also hoped that martial law would not degenerate into abuses of civilian rights, “the way that happened during martial law under Marcos”, Valmores said.
The progressive youth group, Kabataan Party-list, also called for vigilance against military abuse of authority, such as possible indiscriminate bombing runs in civilian communities where the Maute Group may be sighted. The group condemned the attacks by the Maute Group.