Unity in adversity A Filipino Muslim nurse and a Catholic nun attend to an injured Marawi City resident during the five-month siege from pro-Islamic State (IS) militants. JACKIE RODRIGUEZ ‘When we got there, it was heartbreaking’

When war broke out in Marawi, a teeming city of religious and cultural convergence in Mindanao, many Filipinos could not believe violence from the Islamic State (IS) terror group was actually happening in the country.

The situation in Mindanao, while hogging many headlines in the past, did not betray a single clue that war could be imminent.

As each day seemed to worsen, concerns grew about the situation of the displaced families, the widows and orphaned children. But who was going to do anything about it?

“At that time, plans of going to Marawi were not in anybody’s brains here because we were shocked at the situation,” relates business mogul Joaquin “Jack” C. Rodriguez, Honorary Philippine Consul to Serbia.

“They were pissed off and angry that this was happening in our country. Basically there was a lot of anger and hate. We were saying that we don’t believe that people there didn’t know it, that they didn’t know what was going on. That was the attitude,” he said.

Then Rafael M. Alunan III, a fellow Rotarian, called him up about the situation. “Raffy Alunan has always been a very patriotic person. He’s very, very upright. I never saw a more honest man. He was secretary of Tourism and also Local Government. I never saw anybody…I mean, I had some dealings with local government supplying some boats, and he was always upright, everything aboveboard, everything on the table… I always had a high respect for him,” Rodriguez said.

“I hadn’t seen him in many years because we were in Rotary together. He told me, you know we have to do something about Marawi. Let’s go there,” Rodriguez recalled.

“Without the imprimatur of Rotary yet, we went on our own to see for ourselves the ground and to see whether there’s room for us to participate. With his connections among the top brass of Rotary, we made arrangements to go there. And when we got there, it was heartbreaking,” Rodriguez reveals.

“I mean, I shed not a thousand…millions of tears when I saw it. You know, we’re all Filipinos, whether we’re yellow, black, brown, white…Seeing this thing, whatever religion, you’ll ask, what’s going on here? Raffy, I said, we have to do something,” Rodriguez said.

“Definitely, at our age, we’re not going to raise arms and be at the back of a weapon that will kill a fellow Filipino. Those were his exact words,” he added.

So, they found other ways to help. “Government agencies were not doing anything yet, concentrating on the war, war, war. Nobody was thinking of rehabilitation. When we saw what we saw, I decided, Raffy, we have to dedicate our life over the next few weeks to this project,” Rodriguez said.

When it came to their Rotary Club of Manile (RCM), he said, reaction was mixed because it was deemed “too big.” Yet what this one club, albeit the biggest in the country, started has been instrumental in bringing more aid to the victims of Marawi.

“Philippine Airlines, right away, no questions asked, offered help. We’ll handle the transport – medicines, vitamins, doctors, nurses, everything. They came all out and so did other companies. Pascual Laboratories, people in Rotary, so many people,” Rodriguez said.

As for himself, Rodriguez confessed, “Whatever I spent is really worth it because when I saw the eyes of the children who had lost their fathers and mothers, I cried within me. To me, what’s important is what was done. It’s not about a bugle playing in my behalf, but more a lesson that we should learn so that it shouldn’t happen again. That’s what it’s about.”

It was in July 2017 when Alunan and Rodriguez went on a fact-finding 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. “We began our preparation. It was not easy – some of the doctors didn’t want to risk their lives. At the time, it was daily bombing and killing. We prepared. In fairness, all our work was totally coordinated with our local assets – meaning the Muslim leaders who were there and the Muslim leaders who were in Manila. The coordination was good. We developed strong ties – I now have friends there that I never had before. I consider friendship as the most beautiful gift that God has given us. That blending of emotions, that blending of hearts and ideas was fulflled in us,” Rodriguez said.

Although they were escorted, Alunan and Rodriguez were risking their lives to see for themselves what was needed to be done. “Air Force jets and helicopters were flying overhead to bomb the enemy about 2 kilometers away,” wrote Alunan.

“When we would go, there wasn’t a moment that we could say that we were going on a joyride. We worked to kind of appease the problem and the situation. We went to centers where they were keeping people – there must have been 40 centers, some had 800, some had 2,000. Some would only have two or three toilets! You can put yourself in that situation and imagine how hard it is for the people. There were moments when you were just wondering what was happening to the world,” Rodriguez recalled, showing some photographs in his laptop.

In one compelling shot, a Catholic nun and a Muslim woman are shown treating a wounded person. It showed how war could destroy and how war could bring together disparate beliefs when the worst of it happens to everyone.

The nun is Sr. Eva Fidela Maamo, a Ramon Magsaysay awardee. In the Marawi effort for RCM, she and Philippine Army captain Dr. Sharon Reyes are given credit for their contributions.

After reporting their findings to the RCM Board, they 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.

“All in all, we have helped 6,000 people, more or less,” Alunan tells Daily Tribune in a phone interview.

The biggest drawback, he added, has been lack of donations for medicines and manpower. “It’s hard to accumulate medicines, and if we buy them, we spend about P300,000 for 2,000 people. The team was able to identify 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, and medical missions,” Alunan said. “That’s the big picture.”

As fighting in Lanao resumes, thousands of families have been affected anew. “It’s an endless job. There is a lot more to be done. We will continue with what we have to do. What we need is good governance and for government and society to work together,” Alunan said.

One of the wounded soldiers they visited in the AFP Hospital said, “I felt so alone, I felt I got hurt for no reason at all. Now, today, I realized that my country appreciates what I’ve done.”

And it is because of warriors like them – those working behind the scenes and exerting every effort to help Filipinos caught in armed conflict and natural disasters – that the country continues to hope for peace.