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BY RESEL JOY TIANERO
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Tuesday, June 13, 2017
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ILOILO – While Ilonggos celebrated the 119th Philippine Independence Day, war was raging in Marawi City in Mindanao.
The irony was not lost on Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr. who led the raising of the Philippine flag in Santa Barbara, Iloilo yesterday.
While the revolutionaries of 1898 fought against colonial rule and struggled to unite the Philippines, Maute terror group members attacking government troops in Marawi City wanted to destroy the republic, lamented Defensor.
“We must understand the reasons behind the war in Mindanao and know the origins of the war,” he urged Ilonggos.
Defensor cited the gallantry of Filipinos who sacrificed their lives for the country’s freedom and urged Ilonggos to remember what these heroes fought for – freedom, democracy, a better Philippines, and justice and peace.
The public plaza of Santa Barbara was the site of the first raising of the Philippine flag outside Luzon on Nov. 17, 1898 five months after General Emilio Aguinaldo declared Philippine independence from Spain in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898.
This pioneering revolutionary act led by General Delgado in the Visayas and Mindanao is now known as “The Cry of Santa Barbara.”
The hoisting of the Philippine flag also marked the inauguration of the Revolutionary Government of the Visayas.
Meanwhile, remnants of the Maute terrorist group continue their stiff resistance while holed in fortified buildings and structures in Marawi, said Armed Forces public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo in Metro Manila.
Using these defensive positions, the terrorists were using sniper fires, mortar fire, anti-tank rounds, and improvised explosive devices to kill anyone — government security forces, relief and rescue workers, and civilians — who get in the way of their fanatical desire to dismember Marawi from the Philippines and establish it as a “Wilayat” or an ISIS terror group province in this part of Asia, the military official said.
“Your Armed Forces and police will continue to break the heavy resistance of and clear Marawi from the Maute group, restore normalcy in the city, and make way for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of Marawi,” said Arevalo.
To fulfill that mission, Arevalo said, there is need to use armor, artillery and air power assets to breach the terrorists’ stronghold and their underground fortresses.
“This has since become a fight not only of your security forces, but also of every peace-loving Filipino deserving of a peaceful and progressive nation,” said Arevalo.
He described the conflict as a “war between good and evil.”
“Everyone needs everybody to stand up, unite, fight against, and repulse the onslaught of the forces of evil attempting to establish foothold in our land. We would not and should not surrender even an inch of our soil to the harbingers of doom and perfidy,” stressed Arevalo. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
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