Marawi City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra SOURCE: Philippine Information Agency
The Marawi City local government will strengthen its monitoring of Madrasah or Muslim schools in its area to prevent extremist ideologies from seeping into the community again, its mayor said Friday.
Marawi City Mayor Majul Usman Gandamra said the local government would recommend to the Department of Education (DepEd) the monitoring of schools, which he said among the recruitment hubs of Islamic State (IS)-inspired groups.
“In fact, ang city government of Marawi City and even, I think, the provincial government is now in the process of passing resolutions or ordinances to regulate (the schools),” Gandamra said in a press briefing.
“Hindi ho para i-suppress ‘yung freedom of education ‘no, or belief, kung hindi para po ma-guide natin sila para na maiwasan natin itong nangyari sa Marawi City,” he added.
(It’s not meant to suppress the freedom of education or belief but to guide them and we can avoid what happened here in Marawi City.)
Gandamra said these schools have become a hub of extremism and fighters because of weak government presence in their areas.
“Kasi dun po nagkaroon ng gap, nagkaroon po ng opportunity itong mga grupo na ito na nagbigay ng support, let’s say financial support, dito sa mga schools,” he said.
(There was a gap, there was an opportunity for these extremist groups to give financial support to these schools.)
“And they were able to inculcate some principles and ideas, using of course, our (religion) na Islam. And of course, deviating from the usual teaching of the true essence of Islam,” he added.
Gandamra also urged families to be vigilant and take part in the efforts to combat extremism and terror acts.
“Even the family themselves should also be part of this—itong laban against these kind of terroristic acts ‘no,” he said.
“In fact during the siege, we found out that may mga pamilya na lumalapit sa atin (there were families that came forward) and telling us that nawawala ang kanilang mga anak (their children were missing),” he explained.
“So later on ay hindi na ho bumabalik dahil (they no longer return), it was found out that nasama na doon sa loob (they were already inside the battle field),” he added. /jpv
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