No more hostages in Marawi
Military officials in Marawi City said yesterday that the Maute Group had no more civilian hostages and that government forces were aiming to end the crisis by midnight with the battle coming down to just one building where about 30 remaining terrorists were holding out.
Colonel Romeo Brawner, Joint Task Force Ranao deputy commander, said the remaining 20 hostages by the Daesh-inspired Maute Group have been rescued.
“We believe wala nang (there are no more) remaining hos-
tages. Iyon na po ’yung mga na-rescue, iyung mga na-rescue natin (They are the ones that we have rescued) na hostages na iyon because we exhausted all means to rescue the remaining hostages,” Brawner said.
“Iyun nga po iyung latest na narescue was 20. Iyun na last natin 20 (The latest we rescued were 20. That’s the last, the 20 of them),” he added.
Brawner said some of those who also came out with the hostages are currently being processed by government troops to determine their true identities.
Brawner said there is one particular building in which they believe Maute stragglers are holed up with their wives.
“That singular building (is where) they have chosen to stay with their husbands. May mga babae pa po sa building na yun at ito po yung mga asawa ng mga Maute ISIS (there are women inside the building and they are the wives of the Maute ISIS) and we believe that they really chose to stay with their husbands,” Brawner said.
“At this point we gave them all the chances to surrender. We gave them all the chances to come out together with the hostages and in fact some of them did,” he said.
Brawner said they also received reports that some of the hostages joined the Maute in the fight against government troops.
“Sa labanan mismo (In the actual fighting) some of them became the females, some of them became the wives of the Maute ISIS. But then again there is still procedure that we have to follow. They will have liability and they will be charged also together with the Maute ISIS,” Brawner said.
“Sa ngayon (Right now) we cannot give you that number because we are still trying to determine if they are really hostages or wives of the Maute ISIS,” he said.
Brawner said although there was no deadline given, AFP Western Mindanao Command (WestMinCom) chief Lt. Gen.Carlito Galvez expressed belief that hostilities will end before the end of October 22.
“Wala pa hong deadline pero iyun nga po sabi ni General Galvez kahapon na maaring matapos ngayong araw na to. (No deadline was given but General Galvez said yesterday that this might be finished before the end of today),” Brawner said.
“So they (terrorists) are just in one building and they are inside that building. But as of noon today, I was there in main battle firefight is ongoing,” he said.
Day 153
Brawner said in Day 153 of the conflict, the number of Maute terrorists killed is now 919 with the firearms recovered already 864.
The number of hostages rescued has now reached 1,780 civilians with government fatalities (soldiers and police killed) still at 165.
“So today there is still firefight going on inside the main battle area but the Maute ISIS is occupying only one building. So there’s just one building left for the government forces to clear,” Brawner said.
“Right now we cannot still determine how many of the 30 are dead or how many are still living but definitely as of noon today there is still resistance coming from that one building,” he said.
Rehab begins Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the rehabilitation of war-stricken Marawi City has started with the deployment of the PCNA (Post-conflict needs assessment) teams composed of about 200 people from various agencies.
In a statement, Lorenzana said the teams will be the ones to make assessment of damages brought by the fivemonth war and will estimate the cost of rehabilitation of the city.
“This will take one to two weeks. Meanwhile, our engineering brigade and Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are now starting to clear roads and remove debris,” Lorenzana said. “There will be six battalions to remain for the rehab phase,” he added
The PCNA teams sent out by Task Force Bangon Marawi (TBFM) are composed of various national and local government agencies in 24 barangays in Marawi City.
Each team was assigned to assess a number of barangays declared cleared by the AFP and which are referred to as Zones 0 to 12. The target date of completion for the field deployment, including data analysis, consolidation, and report development is on October 27, 2017.
Reward the troops Government troops showed they deserve President Duterte’s promised 100 percent salary hike after they “kicked ass” in the erstwhile-terrorists occupied Marawi City, Davao City 1st district Rep. Karlo Nograles said yesterday.
“Our men and women in uniform proved in the battle of Marawi that they deserve this salary hike. They managed to contain the threat posed by Maute terrorists within the city, neutralize its keys leaders and retake the city,” said Nograles, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations.
He guaranteed the approval of the draft resolution for the pay hike for soldiers once Congress resumes sessions on November 13. Lawmakers are currently on a month-long break from work. (With a report from Ellson A. Quismorio)