Lorenzana to Marawi evacuees: Give us more time

MANILA, Philippines - Thanking evacuees for their decision not to proceed with their plan to march from evacuation centers back to their homes, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana yesterday asked displaced residents of Marawi City to give the government a little more time to eliminate the Maute threat.

“To the displaced residents of Marawi, we want you to know that we are as anxious as you are to conclude the military operations in Marawi so that you can go back to your homes, and we can start the rebuilding and rehabilitation of Marawi,” he said in a statement.

“We ask for a little more understanding and patience as we deal with the remaining Maute/Daesh fighters who continue to put up stiff resistance,” Lorenzana appealed, giving assurance that his department respects the right of every Filipino to freely express himself through a peaceful assembly or march.

He said such rights are important to the Filipino democratic way of life and enshrined in the Constitution, but the government is glad that residents decided to postpone their activity to a later date, when their safety and well-being can be more assured.

On Sunday, Lorenzana said he and several Cabinet members, including Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, were invited to Iligan City to have a dialogue with Marawi residents, local government units of Lanao, civil society organizations, the Marawi sultanate and non-government organizations.

Also at the meeting were Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director general Guiling Mamondiong, presidential adviser on overseas Filipino workers Abdullah Mama-o and Mindanao Development Authority Secretary Abulkayr Alonto.

Lorenzana said the dialogue was very cordial and productive as Marawi residents were able to raise a lot of concerns that need to be addressed by the government agencies.

“They were encouraged to speak and ventilate their concerns in order to help all parties bridge the gaps in terms of cultural, religious, gender and social differences,” he said.

Lorenzana said the displaced residents’ foremost wish was to go back to their homes in Marawi, the reason they planned a march on July 24 to dramatize their concern while citing their hardships in the evacuation centers and the alleged looting and destruction of their homes.

The Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) under Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez Jr., however, pleaded with them not to go back yet as there is still intense fighting in the Marawi central business district where the Maute-Daesh has chosen to make a last stand.

“Your soldiers die every day and are making sacrifices just to liberate Marawi from terror,” Galvez said.

“Your soldiers are fighting not for Marawi alone but for the entire country against these animals who wish to disrupt our normal way of life.”

9 soldiers killed, 46 hurt

At least nine more soldiers were killed and 46 others injured following a daylong intense close-quarter battle against the pro-Islamic State (IS) militants in devastated Marawi.

Galvez said the troops were approaching one of the defensive positions occupied by remnants of the Maute group under Dawlah Islamiya (DI), triggering fierce firefights.

The militants positioned amid the rubble of buildings downtown simultaneously lobbed grenades that killed nine government troops and injured 26 others.

The military, however, said that the government casualty count was the result of daylong encounters in all remaining positions of the terror group. 

Galvez said a close-quarter battle sparked as troops engaged the Maute members to extricate the casualties, leaving additional 20 others injured.

The casualty count was the biggest the military troops suffered so far in a single day in more than two months of military offensives to liberate Marawi. 

The new casualties brought the number to more than 109 dead and almost 200 others wounded, while the pro-IS group have suffered 452 deaths in the ongoing conflict.

In a related development, the police arrested a member of the Maute group at an evacuation site in Saguiran town in Lanao del Sur at past 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police regional director Chief Supt. Reuben Theodore Sindac said Lala Arafat, 38, was positively identified by evacuees as a follower of siblings Omar and Abdullah Maute, founders of IS-inspired Dawlah Islamiya/Maute group. – With John Unson, Gerry Lee Gorit