Rotary to Assist in Rebuilding Marawi

The Rotary Club of Manila (RCM), the first to be established in the Philippines way back in 1919, will take an active role in rebuilding war-torn Marawi City as part of its centennial celebration in 2018-2019. RCM, with lawyer Jimmie Policarpio as its current president, will be helping in the humanitarian effort along with 10 other Rotary Clubs consisting of some 25,000 members, according to one of its officers, former Interior Secretary Rafael M. Alunan III.

I had a brief chat with Sec. Alunan on the sidelines of the latest Saturday Forum@Annabel’s. He said their humanitarian assistance in Marawi will focus on filling in four gaps. One, they will assist soldiers and internally displaced people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). They will tap psychologists and psychiatrists to give counsel to the soldiers who were in the frontlines of the fierce battles with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-linked Maute Group and have to deal with the psychological effects of war. Alunan said two prominent psychologists, Gregorio Diokno and Dulce Gust, have volunteered their services and will study the long-term effects of PTSD.

Two, the Rotarians will provide prostheses to the troops who were wounded in battle and lost their limbs as a result. This would be coupled with morale-raising activities, such as visits by celebrities and beauty queens and entertainers to hospitals where the injured troops are recuperating.

Third, they will conduct medical missions in different communities in Marawi from now until 2019. The Rotarians will request for the free services of volunteer doctors and other medical personnel and provide medicines to those who need it most.

And fourth, the civic group will provide adequate water and sanitation services to communities to prevent the outbreak of dengue and malaria epidemics in vulnerable communities. As part of this endeavor, they will also conduct fumigation activities and information dissemination on how to prevent health-related concerns.

These four activities under what they call the “One Rotary, One Philippines, One Marawi” program will be undertaken in close coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, national government agencies, local government units and other civil-society groups.

In early July, Jackie Rodriguez joined me on a fact-finding mission for the Rotary Club of Manila (RCM) to determine the humanitarian assistance gaps in Marawi. We went to Cagayan de Oro from Davao where we met with Rotary District 3870 Governor Linda Deleste and its Secretary Bong Bout to discuss it and how to mobilize local Rotary clubs. Accompanying us were Bong Año, Executive Director of Team Humanity, and Norodin Alonto Lucman, who served as one of my advisers in the DILG and has remained a friend since.

In Iligan we met displaced sultans and datus. We listened to their assessment of the urban conflict and suggestions to overcome the problems they faced especially their loss of incomes and property. We also visited an evacuation center to get an idea of the problems and service gaps they faced.

We then proceeded to Marawi where we met with BGen Ramy Rey, Commander of TF Ranao, and LtC Jo-ar Herrera for a briefing about the evacuees and status at the war zone. In the course of the briefing, Air Force jets and helicopters were flying overhead to bomb the enemy about 2 kilometers away.

We reported our findings to the RCM Board headed by Jimmy Policarpio upon our return, and were appointed Chair and Vice-Chair of the “One Rotary, One Philippines, One for Marawi” committee. It was adopted as a legacy and centennial project to commemorate RCM’s 100th year next year. We were also elected to the Centennial Board headed by Susing Pineda, thus, ensuring continuity in the next two years.

We will enjoin the “whole-of–Rotary” – all the 10 Rotary districts – to engage, spearheaded by DG Loy Cosico and GE Rudy Bediones., and partner with the AFP-PNP and civil society like Philippine Air Lines and Team Humanity.

There were four areas where humanitarian assistance fell short due to the lack of human and/or technical resources:

* Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD

* Water and sanitation

* Prosthesis

* Medical missions

PTSD afflicts victims of war and natural disasters. They experience ruptured family relations; become unproductive; and are potentially harmful to themselves and those around them. PTSD is a silent killer that can drive one into a deep depression or into drugs to escape their harsh realities. MGen Ronnie Evangelista, current AFP-CRS chief and former commander of the Special Forces Regiment Airborne and the Light Reaction Regiment, concurs. He noticed behavioral changes in his men; some subtle, others pronounced. Their treatment required different approaches.

Many soldiers and some civilians caught in the cross-fire have lost their limbs, eyesight and hearing to the brutality of war, mostly to Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), shrapnel and sniper fire. They will be provided prosthesis and medical attention. Rotarians visited our wounded warriors in V. Luna and the Philippine Army General Hospitals last month. We brought beauty queens and entertainers for photo ops and to say “thank you” through song and laughter that lifted their spirits and brought out their smiles.

Gastroenteritis, upper respiratory diseases, skin diseases, malaria and dengue commonly afflict Marawi’s evacuees. Unfortunately, all the evacuation centers lack medical attention and additional facilities for potable water and sanitation. Dehydration, poor hygiene and insufficient resources have led to many cases of death and morbidity. Rotary will mobilize local and foreign funders to enable RCM to obtain the proper human and technical resources to field in Marawi for medical missions, entertain and conduct sports clinics.

Last week, we returned to Iligan and Marawi to coordinate our first in a series of medcaps that will commence two weeks from now, and which we intend to hold every two weeks. We met with Rotarians from District 3870, specifically Marawi and Iligan; imams and sultans; and AFP-PNP-LGU officials. We visited evacuation sites in Saguiaran and Baloi municipalities where our first medcaps will be held. We were also briefed by TF Bangon Marawi AFP officers BGen Donato and Col Romeo Brawner about the security situation.

Despite the deaths of the two leading commanders of the ISIS-led coalition – Isnilon Hapilon alleged Emir of ISIS in Southeast Asia, and Omar Khayam Maute of the Maute family-led crime syndicate – the danger of terrorism still looms large over Mindanao and other parts of the country. Their deaths are likely to be avenged. Crimes against humanity should be anticipated against soft targets such as suicide bombings in high human traffic areas, massacres and the seizure and destruction of mass transports. Government shouldn’t let its guard down. It’s facing a global security threat from a widely dispersed coalition of extremists. Triumph in Marawi must not translate into underestimation of the enemy that systematically pulls surprises and inflicts many casualties.

In the local context, the enemies of the state are numerous: some are eyeing regime change; others are out to break away from the republic and establish a caliphate or separate state; others want to protect their criminal empires; others want to kill the President. Revenge is in the air; foreign direct investments are hanging; the situation is critical. The saving grace to what otherwise is a retching period in the nation’s life is the AFP and PNP whose warriors in Marawi, despite resource limitations due to serial neglect by self-serving politicians, have shown what it’s like to fight and die like heroes.

We also have a President with feet of clay still struggling in his transition from mayor to president, and has traits that are uniquely his compounded by Fentanyl’s unnerving side effects. But he has shown his tenacity as a fighter; and steadfastness as a protector of the people from drugs, crime and corruption; and his staunch defense of their dignity. He may be a son of a bitch to some but to most, he’s their son of a bitch. And there will be hell to pay if something happens to him.

(Rafael Alunan III formerly served as Secretary of the Interior and Local Government. He currently chairs the National Security Committee of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations.)