Scammers using Marawi crisis warned anew

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has vowed to expose scammers soliciting money for Marawi evacuees.

DILG officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy said they continue to receive reports of phone calls and text messages from individuals who pose as DILG chief or members of his staff asking for cash donations for displaced Marawi residents.

“It’s only a matter of time for you to be exposed. Our police information technology experts are now working, even as I speak,” Cuy said in a statement.

“The hands of the law will reach fraudsters who are shamelessly using the name of poor Marawi evacuees to get money from unsuspecting victims,” he said.

Cuy took exception to unscrupulous individuals who ask for donations to be sent through a remittance center or deposited in a bank account.

He called on local chief executives to help in the investigation.

“Help yourself from being a victim of extortionists and be part of the solution,” Cuy said.

No more deadline

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana is no longer setting a deadline to end military operations in Marawi.

”I have been burned many times, perhaps five times. At the end of the day, it is up to the ground commander,” Lorenzana told reporters during a visit to Zamboanga City for a summit with Muslim scholars yesterday.

However, Lorenzana said Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez gave assurance that the operation would end soon.

“He told me just awhile ago that the days are numbered, but he also did not give a date,” Lorenzana said.

”Let’s just wait. One of these days you will be surprised – the President will emerge from the battleground to declare that the war is over,” he said.

Government forces have been fighting Maute militants who occupied parts of Marawi since May 23.