Sunset Boulevard views, Dipolog. July 2017
[from FB post: July 7, 2017}
Reporter on site:
You know President Duterte has declared martial law (very serious) on the entire island of Mindanao due to the takeover by radical Islamists of one town called Marawi.
Recently I travelled to Dipolog which is on the north coast of Mindanao and as the crow flies, not really all that far from Marawi (but realistically.... it is lightyears away). Other than my ID being checked for the ferry journey to and fro (checked multiple times), I sensed nothing else out of order.
I thought martial law meant that after sunset a place totally closed down except for essential services? Apparently it has a different meaning here? Dipolog was completely open for business and really life in the city went on as normal. There was military presence, but you know.... you see that many places that are NOT under martial law too. So I wonder -- what IS martial law?
It is being discussed here at the highest levels. I have seen some of the debates on TV (those in English) and I just wonder -- have these people in Manila even BEEN to Mindanao? Honestly, I am totally confused. There is a serious situation in Marawi where an ISIS-inspired group has taken over the city and it has led to a lot of death and destruction. However, I was just in Dipolog (in Mindanao) and if they were under martial law, I sure would have liked to find out what exactly was different than usual?
Just a dose of reality from a regular guy who happened to be there....
How did I ever end up in Dipolog? Somewhere along the way, I think I met someone originally from there who sung the praises of the place. I was in Dumaguete and realized a regular ferry service departed to Dipolog daily and it wasn't that long of a journey. It was a no brainer for a guy who regularly travels to points on maps without knowing what to expect.
I got on a creaky, old RoRo ferry (Roll on, Roll off for heavy vehicles) and was on my way across the Sulu Sea to Mindanao. The staff at my hotel were mortified that I was going to Dipolog and were certain my kidnapping was imminent. Filipinos had a huge prejudice against Mindanao as being overrun by Islamic terrorists with the whole island being labelled as unsafe. Forget that less than one-third of the island actually had a Muslim population and that the non-conflict zones were always peaceful. "Don't go to Mindanao" - the second biggest island of the archipelago - was on the lips of everyone I met.
The voyage was uneventful and we arrived at the lovely little port of Dapitan north of Dipolog where all the passengers shuffled off the boat and got on larger variety tricycles crammed with people. The process was amazingly orderly. I paid the local price (I liked the place already) and soon was headed up over a small mountain for the short ride to Dipolog on the other side. I found my hotel, a branch of my usual place in Dumaguete, and it was even better than the original (Dumaguete hotel staff horror apparently misplaced).
For the next two days I wandered little, sleepy, STAUNCHLY CATHOLIC Dipolog. Everyone was friendly and relaxed in a way that made me remember how much I loved small cities in the Philippines. I found a good coffee shop and enjoyed some incredible covers of famous American songs in the background. Filipino bands were famous all over the region and they could be found from Indonesia, to Singapore, to Thailand. I asked which band's music was playing because they were excellent. Much to my embarrassment it was Boyce Avenue from Miami (I am now a huge fan). I had to travel to a small town in the Philippines to discover a now very famous cover-band from the USA. Life can be strange.
The place to visit in the city was Sunset Boulevard facing the Sulu Sea. It was a wide esplanade lined with palm trees. In the evening it came alive with residents. After Dumaguete, it was probably the best seafront walk of a small city I had encountered, although Dumaguete's was much better with its large old trees and the downtown coming right down to the seafront. I walked Sunset Boulevard with the locals every evening I was in Dipolog and watched the changing cloud formations over the wide horizon of the Sulu Sea with their late afternoon plays of light and color like a natural art show. Every single sunset was amazing.
Something, however, was going on that should have marred the experience. The Moro Islamic Front had just taken over the town of Marawi (not all that far as the crow flew, but by tortuous Filipino roads, on another planet). A pitched battle was being fought for a place which was probably about the same size as Dipolog. All of Mindanao was put under martial law. Except in Dipolog nothing seemed amiss, nothing was different, and people were just carrying on with their lives. It was hard for them to get worried about the events in a town that was 6-7 hours away by infrequent bus service. I even asked some people about it and they were totally unfazed.
I had lived under martial law in Manhattan after 9-11 (they never called it that, but that is what it was). That was palpable. The whole city dynamic changed. Now I was officially under martial law in Dipolog and no one even cared. A state of emergency is felt not declared. How ridiculous to tell a town "you are living in a state of emergency" and then do nothing to enforce it. How could emergency measures be enforced in a place with no emergency?? Such contradictions must lead residents of many places not to take the government seriously. That could only lead to problems the day that everyone actually MUST listen.
So I spent a few days under "martial law lite" - one more life experience under my belt.
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