Marawi, martial law and missing the point

SOON enough, the Supreme Court will rule on the legality of the declaration of martial law in Mindanao. Such questions at this juncture, however, miss the point. The legal challengers suffer from a serious miscalculation of the situation in Marawi and the threat it poses to the rest of the country, if not the entire Southeast Asian region. We hope that the President and the rest of government focus more on those security issues and take measures against the plot to establish a new Asian beachhead in the global war against terrorism.

For the Philippines, Marawi represents a far more serious danger than that posed by previous secessionist movements. Unlike the MNLF and MILF rebels, the Maute group is poised to ignite a religious war here, the largest predominantly Christian country in Asia. Even as fighting continues, the government should counter any propaganda effort that could attract even more religious fundamentalist elements, including the Islamic State (IS). For years now, local bandits have been raising the IS banner, presumably to attract fighters and other support from abroad. In Marawi, they had some success. Reports have it that the foreigners fighting there hail from Syria, Indonesia, Malaysia, and some Arab states.