Masses, rosaries and adorations in local communities, while in Mindanao US Special Forces arrive to help the Manila army defeat terrorists.
Churches across the Philippines are praying for Marawi. The Archipelago Church has launched an impressive campaign of awareness and prayer for the island of Mindanao, southern Philippines, where the siege of the city of Marawi, occupied by jihadists loyal to the Islamic State, is on its 24th day. Bishop Edwin de la Pena with apprehension and a bit of bitterness is attentively following the fate of his city and reports to Vatican Insider “All the bishops have assured me that every day they celebrate a mass for our painful situation. We acknowledge the support of the entire Catholic community, and that of the Filipino communities in other nations. Our only hope today resides in God” He sees the destruction of a place that up until yesterday had been thrilling and swarming with people, and now is frighteningly deserted and full of rubble. Thousands of displaced persons are forced to move to evacuation centers or fortune homes.
The situation on the ground is stalling. After the army has regained much of the city of Marawi (only three districts are still under the control of the “Maute” terrorists group), it has since entered one of its most delicate phases. The last militants (about 100 have remained out of the initial 500 who had launched the attack and are now hiding inside the buildings) use hostages as human shields aware that indiscriminate bombings can’t take place.
The bishop anxiously tells us: “The situation on the ground seems very difficult. The jihadists are well organized, have sufficient food and ammunition, and are barricaded in underground tunnels they dug out in recent months. Our parishioners and the episcopal vicar, Teresito Soganub, are among the 200 hostages: we are worried about them. Even now, as we cannot see any glimmer of hope, we know that God is beside us, He does not abandon us. Our brothers, hostage of terrorists, are in his hands.”
One fact seems clear: the terrorist group that proclaimed fidelity to Isis well orchestrated this action. For their siege, food and weapons have been previously stored in places such as mosques or religious schools, and then taken when needed. Given the gravity of the situation, the Manila government has asked for assistance from the US military Special Forces to provide technical and strategic assistance to Filipino marines committed to fighting terrorists. This is a total reversal of Rodrigo Duterte’s government strategy, who in recent months had stated that he wanted to break the traditional political alliance with the US (moving towards China and Russia) and had asked the US forces (present in Mindanao since 2002, as an aid in the fight against terrorism) to leave the island.
What is certain is that the Marawi’s battle has already left over 200 victims on the ground: about 140 jihadists, 58 soldiers and 26 civilians. The military youths killed in the clashes are all Catholics, and on Monday June 12, Independence Day, the whole nation celebrated its heroes who fell in the fight against terrorism. The farewell to the marines, who were members of ecclesial movements, was very moving. During the funeral ceremonies, the population gave their families its most sincere heartfelt condolences, defining “martyrs” those “who spent and sacrificed their lives for the good of the community in the fight against terrorism.”
On the other hand, the Marawi crisis has also created a flow of more than 180,000 displaced people, causing a sudden humanitarian emergency that the Manila government is facing in co-operation with local institutions. The Philippine Church is doing its part: from the early days of the crisis, a chain of solidarity involved dioceses, parishes, ecclesial associations and in recent days, Archbishop Rolando Tirona, chairman of Caritas Philippines, who launched a new national appeal inviting all the faithful not to stop supporting the displaced persons.
The Filipino episcopate, united in expressing its closeness to the population, points out that today, the sad story of Marawi represents “an opportunity to put faith into practice and to show an example of compassion and mercy.” The urgency is to stand beside those who suffer, but also to strengthen Christian-Islamic dialogue, useful to defeat what the jihadists want to present as “holy war” but that instead “is nothing but deception, a trap for sowing hatred in the South of the Philippines and draw away peace” concludes Bishop de la Pena.
