NAGING daan at leksyon ang Marawi Siege upang pagtuunan ng pansin ang trainings at kagamitan ng Philippine Army.
Isa sa naipamulat noong nangyari ang Marawi Siege noong May 23, 2017 ay ang kakulangan ng Philippine Army ng mga training at kagamitan.
Dito nakita na hindi pa handa na sumabak sa urban warfare ang Philippine Army.
Ito ang ibinahagi ni Lt. Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr, ang Commanding General ng Philippine Army sa programang SMNI Exclusive kasama si Pastor Apollo C. Quiboloy.
Aniya, dahil sa Marawi Siege ay nakita ang kakulangan ng organisasyon pagdating sa mga equipment, trainings at iba pa.
Ani Brawner, kaya naman makalipas ang karanasan nito sa Marawi City, tinutukan at inaral muli nito ang doktrina, training at equipments na kakailanganin upang mas maging handa ang Philippine Army sakaling mangyari muli ang isa na namang urban warfare.
“We learned a lot of lessons during the Marawi Siege, Pastor. For one, we saw how the Philippine Army was very much not prepared to fight an urban warfare in the magnitude that we saw in Marawi City. So, we saw our gaps in terms of organization, in terms of equipment, in terms of our training and so on.
That is why, after the experience that we had in Marawi City, we sat down and studied again our doctrines, our training, our equipment, our organization in order for us to be prepared for another kind of urban warfare in case this thing happens again,” pahayag ni Lt. Gen. Brawner, Jr.
Samantala, ani Brawner importante na malaman ano ang puno’t dulo ng pagsiklab ng Marawi Siege.
“Whenever the military comes in to solve a problem we can say that it’s already too late. Because the more important aspect of really solving a problem is to recognize a need or a problem very early on and then solving that problem,” saad ni Brawner.
Dagdag ni Brawner, ang problemang nararanasan ng mga residente ng Marawi City kung saan hindi kuntento ng mga tao rito sa tugon ng gobyerno, ay ginamit at sinamantala ito ng mga teroristang grupo.
“So, in the case of Marawi City, there were already signs that people were discontent and that there were terrorist groups that were trying to take advantage of this. So early on, our leaders, especially local leaders should already have acted on that, trying to address the root causes of the problem,” dagdag ni Brawner
Ani Brawner, kung oobserbahan ang pamumuhay sa Marawi City at Lanao del Sur noon, makikita na karamihan ng mga tao ay nasa ibaba ng poverty line.
“If we look at the area of Marawi City and Lanao del Sur, we see that most of our people there are not really well-off, a lot of people are within or below the poverty line. So, our leaders should have addressed the issues early on,” ani Brawner.
Samantala, ikinatuwa naman ni Brawner na hindi natupad ang binabalak ng teroristang grupo.
Ani Brawner, pangunahing layunin sa Marawi Siege ay maging teritoryo ito ng teroristang grupo at ma-recognize ng ISIS, isang international terrorist group, kung saan target din nito na sakupin palawigin hanggang Iligan City at Cagayan de Oro ang naturang teritoryo.
Suwerte ani Brawner na hindi ito natuloy bagkus ay napatumba nito ang teroristang grupo na siyang naging hudyat ng pagbagsak ng iba pang terrorist group sa bansa.
“So, their plan was to take over Marawi City, expand to Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro, and also take over the areas of Cotabato City. They thought that they will be able to get the support of all the Muslim communities in the area as well as the other terrorist groups.
In fact, they also called on International Jihadists to come to Marawi to fight with them. Now, it was lucky for us I say, I said earlier because they were now located in one area and we were able to corner them, so to speak, and we were able to finish them that led to the start of the downfall of the terrorist groups in the country.
That’s why Pastor, if you will recall in the past 3 years we have not heard anymore about any kidnappings in the islands of Jolo and Basilan. Because the terrorists here went to Marawi to fight and they were finished in that area. But those who were left in Basilan and Jolo, most of them have surrendered already because of the relentless effort that our army troops, our armed forces are doing in Basilan and Jolo,” dagdag pa ni Brawner.
Matatandaan nitong Oktubre 17, 2022 ang 5th anniversary ng Marawi Liberation. Sa araw na ito’y inalala ang mga magigiting na 168 mga sundalo at pulis na isinakripisyo ang kanilang buhay.
Samantala ang Marawi Siege ang pinakamahabang urban warfare sa kasaysayan ng bansa.
