Gov’t troops raise flag as bombs fall on Marawi
GOVERNMENT troops struggling to force out Islamist militants from a southern city raised the national flag for Independence Day on Monday, June 12, in a tearful ceremony dedicated to the scores killed during the conflict.
But bomb blasts continued to rock Marawi City in the Southern main island of Mindanao that Monday, three weeks into the fighting.
Thousands of soldiers, advised by US Special Forces, are locked in fierce combat with hundreds of insurgents who overran Marawi City on May 23, flying black flags of the Islamic State (IS) group and using up to 2,000 civilians as human shields.
As gunfire rang out and planes flew bombing raids to pummel districts of the largely abandoned city, a crowd of soldiers and officials gathered outside a nearby government building to raise the Philippine flag, listening to speeches and singing as well the national anthem.
“This is dedicated to the soldiers who offered their lives to implement our mission in Marawi City,” said Colonel Jose Maria Cuerpo, commander of a Philippine Army brigade fighting in Marawi.
“To our Muslim brothers there, we want to tell them to stop their meaningless fight because we are all Muslims,” Provincial Vice- Governor Mamintal Adiong, Jr. for his part told the gathering.
Flag ceremonies are normally performed twice a week, but this was the first in the mainly Muslim town since May 23, the first day of the siege, when the militants killed and abducted Christians, and torched a cathedral.
WIDER PLOT
Monday’s Independence Day marks the 119th anniversary of the country’s liberation from Spanish colonial rule at the close of the 19th century.
Fighting in the city has left 58 soldiers and police and more than 20 civilians dead, the military said, estimating that almost 200 militants have been killed in the clashes.
Tens of thousands have fled Marawi, which is the predominantly Catholic country’s most important Muslim city, since troops unexpectedly interrupted plans by the fighters to take over Marawi in a spectacular event to show that IS had arrived in the Philippines.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte has said the militant attack was part of a wider plot by IS to establish a base in the southern region of Mindanao, and declared martial law there to quell the threat.
But the military has struggled to defeat the heavily armed gunmen, who have used hostages and preexisting bomb-proof tunnels to entrench their positions.
“As you know the target was to liberate Marawi today, June 12, but... you can see how complex the problem is and how many new developments there are,” Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano told reporters in Manila.
On Sunday the region’s military chief, Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, told a news conference that the fight would be “most difficult, deadly, bloody, and it will take days and months to clear up.”
Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said a captured militant told the military the IS chief, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, had directly “incited” the gunmen to attack the city of 200,000. Mr. Duterte himself had also affirmed that the terror leader gave instructions on the Marawi siege.
As the conflict intensifies, the US embassy in Manila said on Saturday American forces were providing assistance to the Filipino troops, although it declined to give details for security reasons.
The two countries are bound by a 1951 mutual defense treaty, though Mr. Duterte has tried to steer the Philippines away from US influence since he became president last year.
‘LAND BASE’
For his part, Foreign Affairs Secretary Allan Peter Cayetano said in Independence Day rites in Manila that the militants had planned to take over at least two or three cities in Mindanao.
“But the President knew at the start of his term that, as the allies become more successful in Syria and Iraq, they (Islamic State) will be looking for a land base, and Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines will be a potential target to them,” Mr. Cayetano said.
Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Vitaliano N. Aguirre II has tapped the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for manpower, food provision and other resources for the arrested Maute members and supporters detained at Camp Evangelista in the Mindanao city of Cagayan de Oro.
The Supreme Court (SC) has designated Cagayan de Oro Regional Trial Courts to handle cases that will be filed against suspected Maute members.
Authorities have detained Cayamora and Farhana Maute, parents of brothers Omarkhayam and Abdullah who are leading Maute group attacks in Marawi City. The uniformed forces have also seized cash and several firearms from the group.
Mr. Aguirre flew to Mindanao to oversee the prosecution’s proceedings against the arrested Maute members. But he is expected to fly back today, June 13.
Joining the Justice chief were Justice Undersecretaries Antonio T. Kho, Jr., supervising undersecretary for the DoJ National Prosecution Service (NPS), and Renante Orceo, undersecretary assigned to set up the temporary office of the City Prosecutor’s Office of Marawi City in Iligan City. Mr. Kho will remain in Cagayan de Oro to carry out his supervision on the NPS. — main report by AFP, with Reuters and