Portrait of Marawi : The Islamic City of the Philippines

Marawi City as a beautiful symbol of our common Malay heritage can be harnessed & promoted as part of Philippine cultural “branding.”  But, it is not certain if this is important for the Maranao themselves. Certainly, war or terrorism & tourism do not go together. And this is such a pity because our sultanates are older than the Philippine republic. For now, Marawi is one of two cities in the whole of Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).  

One incisive analysis which must be heeded comes from former Mayor Omar ‘Solitario’ Ali who said that Marawi City suffers from the effect of neighboring “instabilities” and conflict situation. Like all parts of Mindanao & the entire country, Marawi city stands to benefit from a peaceful Mindanao. So, it is indicated that Marawi city as a local government agency  must be one of those working with ARMM to  take a leadership in investing & embarking on a Mindanao wide peace programs.

Ms. Melot Balisalisa, whose network is a member of MINCODE ( Mindanao Coalition of Development Network), says that “for as long as there is war in Mindanao & the root causes are not addressed, poverty persists. There was a study conducted in the nineties during the time of President Ramos & after the passage of the Organic Act & the signing of the Final Peace Agreement with the Moro National Liberation Front,Mindanao’s economy dramatically grew. And during Martial Law, it was the Mindanao agriculture that helped the country’s economy afloat.” This is relevant, too, because much of Marawi is into agroforestry.

Anyway, the whole of Marawi City & Lanao del Sur are watershed areas.Lake Lanao which is considered to be the deepest lake in the country & one of 15 ancient lakes in the world supply ¾ of Mindanao’s total power requirement. The outlet of Lake Lanaois the Agus River. Therefore, the watersheds are important and as such our government should seriously embark on a renewable energy program now. Part of the process is creating a social infrastructure towards a land use policy.

Our government offices are seldom able to hire the best & the brightest because government wages are low. Still, Marawi Cityis home to a big academe & so its local government could invest in developing a successor generation employing the skills of young graduates from the university to join government. And it would be beneficial, too, if governance as practices are linked to theory & research in this state university in Mindanao & thus produce the next leaders of this island. But, first to lure the young, the Marawi City LGU must be electronically wired to the rest of the Philippines & the world. There are no telephone land line systems in the city, too and so communications are done through mobile phones & hand held radio.

One icon of hope one finds in Marawi is the mushrooming of greetings of congratulations of recent achievements bannered across roads like it is a positive articulation of personal pride and maratabat.  

About urbanization - which is defined as concentration of people in places called urban - in the ARMM, I agree with the analysis of Professor Ernesto Serote, that there are two aspects of urbanization in the ARMM that is worth looking into in future studies in order to see the bigger picture (a) The status of the evacuees in the receiving communities, and (b) The effect of the evacuation on the communities of origin & to find out the character & slow or low level of urbanization pertaining to communities of origin.Davao City and Manila, for example, are now teeming with fellow Mindanaons from Marawi City & Lanao del Sur areas who are into trade & commerce.  This means the area of destination is now beyond the Autonomous Areas in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). And as recommended by Professor Serote, “policies dealing with both origin and destination of evacuees are proper items on the Executive-Legislative agenda of the ARMM. And if the origin-destination areas extend to the other regions, then policy making may be on Mindanao-wide basis.” 


Finally, we need to have a redefinition of progress & development. Our consciousness about human ecology must be allowed to inform urbanization. And for this let me quote, Ms. Agnes Miclat, a feminist educator who said, “Small is beautiful & sustainable, because "big" means having to build mining plants & the like to feed the greed of the country’s elite few, & the consumerist values they peddle to the so-called backward economies and of course resources of poor provinces they themselves exploit to maintain their wasteful lifestyles, and their economic & cultural hegemony.”