As the war continues in Marawi
City, fear has been embedded into the minds of the residents. Every day was a
torture as the people living in the area have to witness the city being destroyed.
Instead of staying in the safety of
their homes, civilians have to evacuate to keep themselves safe from the
destruction. As the conflict continues to rise, people fear for their
children’s lives as well as theirs, every single day. Not only that, day by
day, many soldiers, policemen, and marines have died protecting the land where
innocent people reside while these selfish local terrorist group attacked to
control the land and become king, they even have the audacity to join hands with
the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group to lay siege on Marawi City.
And to think they belong to a religion of tolerance and love for the humanity.
Don’t they know their brothers and
sisters are already suffering for what they’re doing? Maranaos are afraid and are
traumatized to the point where they couldn’t sleep. Children are confused
whether or not to continue their education or stay with their family in order
to be together all time because of what they experienced. They fled and left
their properties and the city they are familiar with because they don’t have a
choice. There is no guarantee when this nightmare will be over and if they were
to stay longer, in a blink of an eye, their lives will be taken away.
Due to the attacks, people have to
stop working making them lose their livelihood and lose the only way to fend
for themselves. It is really hard to believe the extent of struggle in Marawi
City. If this is the Maute’s way of showing superiority of their religion, then
it totally backfired. Society’s hatred towards them has worsened, they neither
were respected nor feared, but instead they were hated. Their acts may further
deepen the rift between society and Muslims, rendering the efforts of the other
good Muslims futile.
Every one of us wants to reconcile
and be together as one but as what we are witnessing at this moment, it seems
to be impossible. Marawi Siege has turned hundreds of lives upside down, not
only they are losing money, jobs, and time, they were also losing lives. Even
though Philippine troops were able to kick out extremists from some of the areas
they took as base, they still are struggling to fight against Islamic State-linked
militants.
The event that Marawi City
experienced is a nightmare for everyone. None of us expected these to happen to
our Maranao brothers and sisters. The one conflict we all read, heard or
watched from books and movies have become a horrendous reality. Marawi Siege
has indeed changed the once peaceful lives of people. We have longed for peace
but peace, indeed, is hard to achieve especially in the midst of adversity. It
has become like an elusive dream, it is hard to achieve it by force or any act
of violence. No one is certain who wins this battle but one thing is for sure,
the civilians are the miserable losers in this bloodshed.
Mary Chrisha E. Tadios
ACT ON LINE
School Publication
First Entry for SY 2017-2018
