Philippines VP visits refugees fleeing fighting; Duterte unseen in days
BALO-I, Philippines: The vice president of the Philippines expressed hope on Monday for a swift end to an urban siege by rebels, and offered support to displaced civilians during a visit normally conducted by a president not seen in public for six days.
The trip by Leni Robredo to an evacuation center in Balo-I for residents who escaped a month-long conflict in nearby Marawi City adds to speculation about the health of 72-year-old President Rodrigo Duterte, whose absence this month from the public eye is the longest since he took office a year ago.
Known for a packed public schedule and marathon speeches several times a day, Duterte’s disappearances during what has been the biggest crisis of his presidency will add to frequent rumors he is in poor health, which his office denies.
Robredo made no mention of Duterte during her visit, when she said she hoped life for the nearly 250,000 people displaced by fighting between troops and rebels allied with Daesh could soon return to normal.
“All of us are hoping that the fighting will soon end so the people can go back to their respective homes,” she told reporters. “The government has been doing everything that we can. We can only hope that this will end soon.”
Duterte’s spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on his lengthy absence.
Salvador Panelo, a longtime friend of Duterte’s and his top legal adviser, said the president was as “strong as a bull” and would attend a public event and meet Cabinet members on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Roman Catholic priest abducted by militants has been seen alive, the military said Monday, as troops pressed on with their offensive.
Air and artillery bombardment of enclaves occupied by the militants in the largely Muslim city of Marawi resumed after an eight-hour truce Sunday to allow residents to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting month.
Fires erupted and plumes of dark and white smoke billowed against a blue sky as the bombs slammed into their targets, journalists in Marawi said.
But military spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said the militants were also deliberately burning houses and using improvised bombs, booby traps and hostages as human shields to delay the troops’ advance, five weeks into the fighting.
Hundreds of gunmen flying the black flag of Daesh occupied parts of Marawi on May 23, triggering bloody fighting that has claimed nearly 400 lives according to an official count.
Father Teresito “Chito” Suganob, a Catholic priest assigned to Marawi, was taken hostage along with some parishioners early in the siege on the largely Catholic Philippines’ most important Muslim city.
Herrera, spokesman for the military forces in Marawi, said the priest had been seen alive on Sunday in a part of the city still in the hands of the extremists.
“We don’t have details of his health. We were just told that he was sighted alive,” he told reporters in Marawi, citing accounts from civilians rescued from the battle zone.
He also said there were about 100 civilian hostages still in the hands of the gunmen, being used as “human shields,” ammunition carriers and stretcher-bearers.
Most of Marawi’s 200,000 residents have fled the fighting and the lakeside city, a favorite summer vacation destination in the south due to its cool climate, is now a ghost town.
Fighting resumed with renewed fury on Monday, with government fighter jets and other aircraft seen carrying out bombing attacks while sustained bursts of gunfire could be heard.