Marawi siege stems from long history of grievances – Carranza

Historical grievances of a people seeking an autonomous region in Mindanao was the deeper cause of the Marawi siege, a former Philippine government official said on Tuesday.

Ruben Carranza, a former defense assistant secretary, said in an interview with Christiane Amanpour on CNN that the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf group, both of which are involved in the siege, were not extensions the Islamic State in the country.

"[The Maute group] along with the Abu Sayyaf group, they were very active in kidnapping, they were very active in harassing villages, harassing local governments elsewhere in the south. The fact that they now style themselves as Daesh and they want to project themselves to be part of the larger global armed group is, I think, is the more concerning part of it," said Carranza.

Nevertheless, he added, "I don't think they are a particular expansion of ISIS itself into Mindanao."

Carranza, the incumbent International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) Reparative Justice Program Director, also said that President Rodrigo Duterte had focused too much on his campaign against illegal drugs, and not enough on these armed groups.

"You would otherwise need intelligence monitoring, resources to follow what's been going on," he said.

He mentioned, without providing details, that the Maute group had earlier attacked an urban center.

"A few months ago, the same group actually did a dress rehearsal for what it is doing now and that should have been a very clear signal, a very clear warning to the government that they were going to do it again because they got away with it in a sense," he added.

Deeper cause

However, Carranza added, the decades-old unrest in Mindanao had also contributed to the present-day armed conflict.

"The longer and deeper cause are historical grievances that have generated a succession of secessionist movements in Mindanao," he explained.

He proceeded to relate the efforts of former President Benigno Aquino III to forge a Bangsamoro Basic Law, that would have created an autonomous government with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

The proposal, however, was not approved by the Senate.

Carranza also said that the government's response to the Maute group's attack, which is military force, was"legitimate use of state force."

"There is no choice but to use force when an armed group such as this, escalates their activity to a point where it's no longer just a criminal activity but an armed attack on civilian populations. This constitutes a war crime or at the very least crime against humanity," he added.

Be that as it may, the national government still needed to observe standards that were in accordance with international humanitarian law.

Another factor that contributed to the siege, Carranza pointed out, was Duterte's style of governing, which created "an atmosphere of instability, of incoherent policy making that's only fed more violence."

"He (Duterte) has a hammer and everything is a nail," he explained further.

"A year into his presidency,  a drug war that has killed thousands, now a city in ruins. And still a month later, the President has not been able to decisively end a take over of this city. I think there is a lot for him to answer for," he added.

Carranza also raised the issue that Duterte has not been seen in public for days at a time.

"There are speculations that he is seriously ill. His own spokesperson does not confirm that. The Philippine Constitution requires that the health of the president be disclosed publicly. So, it's a vacuum in leadership, at the time when leadership is needed the most," he said. — BAP, GMA News