Soldiers are either heroes or villains depending upon the eyes of those who perceived them (soldiers). But villains or heroes, soldiers are important in the maintenance of an orderly state or government.
Without soldiers a state can never be safe from rebellion or revolution nor from outside invasion. Today, a more complicated and dangerous development exists for the state to handle, the existence of terrorists and religious fanatics. Their suicide bombers kill at random any one who comes their way, enemy or not, friend or foe, civilians or combatants. This new development in the intrastate and interstate armed conflicts makes peace worldwide in a precarious condition for terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon.
In the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf exists, an international criminals in band (International Humanitarian Law Conference) who projects themselves as Muslim Terrorists. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) along with the Philippine National Police (PNP) has a hard time running after this band of criminals for they wage an unconventional armed conflict where their victims are civilians. Hence, making the AFP and PNP's drastic actions against these criminals prevented because state/government instruments of armed conflict follow the laws of war set by the Geneva Conventions or the International Humanitarian Law.
The armed conflict in Marawi which began last May 23, 2017 and ended this October 23, 2017 lasted for 5 months which could have been ended for only 3 months. The fanatic Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) whose aim is to Islamize the whole world along with its sympathizer the Maute group launched an attack on the City of Marawi thinking that they would win the "war" against the Philippine government, and from there (Marawi) they would occupy the contiguous areas (municipalities, cities, and the whole province of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte).
The armed conflict has ended for now but Marawi is levelled to the ground. Many Muslim and Christian evacuees are homeless. This condition proves the anti-war advocates contention that in a war, it is always the civilians or the noncombatants (children, women, and the elderly) who are at the loosing end.
But war shows the best and the worst in man. While the terrorists raped their hostages and sometimes killed them, soldiers and some media people fed abandoned pets (cats and dogs). Soldiers, because it is their duty, helped dying elderly people at their homes due to hunger as they cannot look for food for fear of stray bullets. But the most touching event was when Muslim friends helped their Christian friends escaped from the armed conflict between the Philippine government and the ISIS/Maute terrorists. The Muslim friends placed their lives in danger even to the extent of being killed by the terrorists for protecting Christians. This is an indication that humanity has a good chance of successfully attaining the desired peace and understanding one another.
At present, the need to rebuild the City and the need to physically, psychologically, and financially rehabilitate the destroyed lines of the victims of this armed conflict have to be addressed by the government and hopefully by humanitarian organizations.
Many evacuees are still living with their relatives and friends waiting for the signal that it is already safe to go back home (Marawi City). The soldiers which are sometimes hated and sometimes loved are busy clearing the combat area to make the City safe again to live in. But the nightmare of war, of escaping from the conflict could not be easily cleared.
Soldiers are combatants in a war whether one loves or hates them, they are important elements in a state, democratic or dictatorial, in the function of the state to maintain peace and order.
Let us pray for time to heal all wounds.
