Government underestimated Maute, says DND chief

MANILA, Philippines — The government underestimated the capabilities of Islamist militants who have been engaged in a protracted battle with security forces in Marawi City, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana admitted on Thursday.

In a media conference, Lorenzana, who at that time was accompanying President Rodrigo Duterte in a visit to Moscow, Russia, said that upon hearing about the clashes in the Islamic town, he thought the fighting would be over in three days.

Upon arriving in Manila and receiving more information from the ground, he thought that the siege would last for one to two weeks.

However, the Maute fighters’ resolve to fight it out with government troops proved strong, pushing security officials to extend deadlines they had set to end the conflict, according to the defense chief.

“Yes, that’s correct. Na-underestimate namin dahil before sandali lang yan e tatlong araw. In fact nung I was in Moscow nung marinig ko yan e tatlong araw lang tapos na ito. Pagdating natin dito at medyo malakas sabi ko isang linggo, dalawang linggo. It turned out we underestimated their resolve to fight it out,” Lorenzana said.

The fighting started on May 23 when military and police personnel tried to arrest Abu Sayyaf subleader Isnilon Hapilon who was the appointed emir of the so-called ISIS.

Government troops encountered stiff resistance from Islamist militants belonging to the Maute and The Abu Sayyaf groups. This led Duterte to declare martial law in Mindanao.

The military has already missed three self-imposed deadlines to retake the war-torn city.

Security officials originally aimed to finish their operations in Marawi City by June 2. However, this was not met as government troops continued to experience heavy resistance from Maute rebels entrenched in the town.

Duterte said on June 4 that the Marawi siege would end in “about three days.” The fighting continued despite the presidential pronouncement.

After this, the military said that it would seek to liberate the town on June 12, the 119th anniversary of Philippine independence. This goal was also not met as the clashes persisted and continued to claim a mounting number of deaths.

Lorenzana said that a village chief told him by the second or third week of the fighting that around 700 rebels were holed up in the city, contrary to his initial estimate of only around 200 to 250.

“The second or third week na nandito kami, may isang barangay kapitan dyan na galing sa loob. Tinanong niya ako, ‘Sa palagay mo, secretary, ilan yung mga kalaban nung umpisa.’ Sabi ko siguro ngayon 400 to 500. Sabi niya, ‘Mali. It’s almost 700 yan.’ Ganun kalaki pala yung kalaban diyan. We did not know then at the start na gumawa kami ng estimate kung kailan ito matatapos,” the defense secretary recounted.

He said that the military would like to be careful in its operations as it did not want to lose more men or to hit innocent civilians.

Lorenzana said that the militants may have been able to stockpile guns, ammunitions and food which resulted in the protracted fighting.

“So ibig sabihin nandiyan sila, nakapagimbak sila ng mga bala, baril pati pagkain siguro, mga explosives. That’s why they are still fighting up to now, and they are still inflicting casualties on our soldiers. That’s why the military is very careful. Of course, we don’t want to lose men, and there are civilians trapped inside. Hindi namin pwede i-flate yan with bombs,” the defense chief said.

The death toll from clashes between government troops and local terrorist groups in Marawi City has risen to 422 a week ago.