The incident prior to Resorts World rampage

The arrest of Cayamora Maute, father of brothers Abdullah and Omarkhayyam who led the attack on Marawi City, should give government troops the upper hand over the terrorist group.

Cayamora was with his daughter and second wife when he was arrested in Davao City on his way to seek medical treatment.

The Maute group is holding a priest and more than 100 Catholics hostage. It has threatened to kill them if government troops don’t stop the siege on their positions in the now pulverized city.

Maybe the government can trade those arrested for the priest and other hostages.

The Maute brothers were either too stupid or desperate when they took innocent hostages.

They should learn to read between the lines. Earlier, the President said he would talk to their relatives if they continued their depredations.

When Digong was mayor of Davao City, the San Pedro Cathedral was bombed, leaving many churchgoers dead or wounded.

A few days later, the mosque in the city was also bombed.

The Mautes are supposed to be highly educated and therefore well-read but they may not be familiar with Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War.”

To win, one must know the enemy and what he is capable of doing, says the ancient book.

Guards from Lanting Security Agency which secured Resorts World ran away while gunman Jesse Javier Carlos rampaged through the hotel-casino complex.

The security agency, whose guards are also assigned at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, is notorious for deploying incompetent and ill-equipped personnel.

It makes you wonder why the agency was able to bag big government and private contracts.
What drove Carlos to go on a shooting and burning rampage?

This columnist was able to piece together the back story before Carlos’ attack on Resorts World based on the information given by a mutual friend and news reports.

Carlos was abducted by two casino financiers, one a former Manila policeman and the other a lawyer-accountant, to whom he owed millions of pesos.

He was being taken somewhere in a BMW car apparently to force him to pay his debt.

This is already speculation, but apparently, Carlos was able to wrest away the gun being wielded by the two men’s bodyguard. He shot them and then escaped but not before he took a bullet in the leg.

The taxi driver who took Carlos with him to Resorts World said that he was limping, belying reports that he was wounded during a shootout with hotel security guards.

Following the scuffle inside the BMW, he went home, got his weapons—an M-4 carbine and a pistol—and hailed a taxi.

The cab driver who took him to Resorts World said Carlos looked agitated and told him to turn on the radio. Carlos was also scrolling through his cell phone, probably waiting for news about the shooting inside the BMW.