Bullets, gun parts found in Marawi donations

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities have seized hundreds of bullets and gun parts from among donations intended for evacuees of Marawi City.

Eastern Police District (EPD) Chief Supt. Romulo Sapitula said 159 rounds of 9mm, a magazine, a gun holster, a pair of pistol handgrips and a gun cleaning kit were found stashed among the donations collected by Mohaimen Mutalib last Monday.

Mutalib, a software engineer, earlier appealed for donations for the evacuees of Marawi City who were displaced by the fighting between government troops and extremist Maute group.

While Mutalib was sorting the donations he received at his condominium unit in Mandaluyong City, he found the gun parts stashed in a black eco bag with “Lito Grey” markings on it.

Mutalib immediately reported his find to Mandaluyong City police chief Senior Supt. Joaquin Alva who immediately took custody of the items.

Police traced the donation to a certain AJ Salvani Cubarrubia who claimed the bag was only forwarded to him for delivery.

Alva said Cubarrubia could no longer remember who forwarded the donation to him.

The Mandaluyong City police are now tracing Grey, who is said to be an employee of a shopping mall in the city.

The item would have been sent to Marawi City evacuees through the Edicute Inc., a non-government organization volunteering to help the evacuees displaced by the hostilities in Marawi City.

Sapitula though refused to comment on the possibility that the seized items were intended to supply the Maute gunmen in Marawi.

“We will get to the bottom of this case. We are tracing the source of the donations first for us to determine whether it was included in the shipment by accident or any other reason,” Sapitula said.

This developed as a suspected Maute gunman was arrested by the military for bringing in ammunition supplies to Marawi the other day.

Task Force Marawi spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said the suspect was held for questioning after troops reportedly saw him trying to bring down several boxes of ammunition from his boat in the coastal area in Lake Lanao, bordering Marawi City.

“We found out that this captured Maute is the one facilitating the entry of ammunition and he is also the one evacuating the wounded from the main battle zone towards the southern side of Lanao Lake,” Herrera said.

“This is good news, as we were able to block their (supply and medical) highway and it only showed that our defenses in Lanao Lake are tight because of his capture,” Herrera said, without identifying the arrested terrorist.

Herrera also did not disclose the types of ammunition recovered, but said the terrorist’s boat was seized.

Meanwhile, Vice President Leni Robredo continues to seek assistance from private organizations for the thousands of families displaced by the battle in Marawi.

Robredo’s spokesperson, Georgina Hernandez, said the Vice President has been talking to several partners from the private sector to help in the relief and rehabilitation efforts in Marawi City.

She said the Office of the Vice President has already provided P3 million worth of food packs for the internally displaced persons.

“We’re considering asking the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) for savings that we can use for the people in need,” Hernandez said.

She said the OVP has deployed a team to focus on the relief and rehabilitation efforts in Iligan, Balo-i, and Saguiaran.

Hernandez said the OVP has also provided P100,000 for the conduct of psychosocial intervention to children evacuees.

The United Arab Emirates, through its embassy in Manila, also distributed food baskets for the Marawi evacuees.

The food baskets came from the Dubai Charity Association as part of its Ramadan Iftar project in helping needy Muslims from war zones around the world.

As the government offensive against the Maute militants in Marawi intensifies, the number of refugees fleeing the war zone rises.

In a separate interview over dzRH yesterday, Robredo said the number of evacuees continues to increase, as not only those from the strife-torn Marawi City fled their homes but also people from nearby towns.

“Evacuees increase and it is even higher than the entire population of Marawi. This means that the conflict also displaced people from nearby municipalities,” she said.

Robredo, who visited the evacuees in Lanao del Norte last Monday, said some local officials were asking whether it is possible to allow some residents to return to parts of Marawi, which are no longer affected by the clashes so people could start rebuilding their lives.

“Since the fighting is confined in four barangays only, they’re asking if the military could conduct clearing operations in other areas so they could start a new life,” she said.

More than 200,000 residents have been displaced by clashes between government forces and Maute terrorists that erupted on May 23.  – With Helen Flores, Pia Lee-Brago, Jaime Laude