Marawi: Soar high, never say die

Marawi City, once an elegant paradise now turned into a devastating battle field. It nearly
looked like an abandoned place. Just by taking a glimpse at the whole city, you could feel the sadness
and the pain that the place encountered. It is not strange for us Filipinos to experience calamities like
this but this war seemed to be one of the worst that ever happened to us. How did this city turn into a
devastating and horrifying place? How did it become so hopeless?

It saddens me that there wasn’t any action done to prevent the hostility. I mean it couldn’t be
this worse if the recruitment of these terrorist groups was known and prevented even before the war
erupted. In that case, no innocent lives were put to death. If we’re going to observed it, our forces were
no match to the terrorists, Abu Sayyaf and Maute, the ISIS-linked group. These rebels planned the attack
for years. If there was any helped from the US, Australia, and China, the hostility in Marawi City would
last longer that I did.

“The end of hostilities in Marawi is just the beginning of the long process of healing and rising
up,” Vice President Leni Robredo said. It is a good thing that along that “long process” there are people
who are willing to help the victims recover from that tragic event. During the war, our foreign allies
provided support. The US and Australia flew surveillance planes to help locate the enemies. China
provided some guns. During the recovery process, many citizens of our country donated funds and
conducted different projects to raise funds for the victims of the war.

“The world has seen the magnanimous spirit of the Filipinos in crucial times. We may stumble
and fall but we will bounce back, arms stronger with vision and faith that after darkness, after pains and
sufferings, the Filipinos survives, the Filipino is resilient,” The Resiliency of a Filipino by William G.
Bacani.

~ Rhealyn L. Piyaw