The battle for Marawi is expected to be over soon, according to the government. The next phase will be the tortuous road to recovery. With much of the city razed by war, and with the lingering threats posed by those who staged the siege, the task can prove to be more challenging than the reconstruction of Tacloban City and other areas devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda.
In shifting from war to reconstruction, the government may want to take a page from the military’s counterinsurgency playbook: “clear, hold, build.” Clearing Marawi of Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorists is still ongoing. Once the AFP considers its mission accomplished, the government must move in and ensure that the victory is sustained. The terrorists must not be allowed to regroup and rebuild their strength for another strike anywhere in the country.
This entails cooperation from the local political leadership all the way down to the grassroots. The military offensive, backed by police commandos, indicated that the Mautes received support from a segment of the Marawi community, which provided funds, guns, ammunition and other supplies to the terrorists. The local supporters might have also had links with fighters of the Islamic State, whose commander in the Philippines, the Abu Sayyaf’s Isnilon Hapilon, could have escaped the government offensive in Marawi.
Now that Marawi residents – and the rest of the nation – have seen the atrocities that the Mautes are capable of perpetrating and the suffering inflicted on the city, there should be greater readiness to work with the government in permanently neutralizing this threat.
Residents’ cooperation is critical in rebuilding Marawi from the ashes of war. The Mautes and their supporters may try to derail reconstruction work. City residents should be at the heart of efforts to thwart any such attempt.
In Tacloban and other areas ravaged by Yolanda, the mantra was to build back better. This can also be done in Marawi. As President Duterte has vowed, the city will rise again. The sweetest victory, and the best way to reject the Islamic State and its gospel of violence and hatred, is to show that Marawi not only recovers but also becomes a better city.