Traffic crawls in Marawi as residents try to flee

Residents of the besieged city of Marawi fled in droves as traffic and people clogged the roads leading to the closest urban centre, Iligan City.

People displaced by the heavy fighting that started on Tuesday afternoon took to social media to air their appeals for food and assistance from the government as they spent hours in gridlocked roadways out of the city.

“We are knocking at the hearts of the local government units and the good people of Saguiran, Pantar and Baloi, if possible they can provide water [or] bread or even meals. Tens of thousands are still stranded for hours on the road after fleeing from Marawi City and going to Iligan City,” Lininding Drieza, a Marawi City resident whose family fled the fighting, had said in his Facebook post yesterday, a day after armed members of the Maute militant group clashed with government forces.

Drieza lamented that the government had claimed that the situation in Marawi City is under control when in truth, there is chaos and hardship for civilians fleeing the fighting.

“Relief, if there is any, has been very slow because of the clogged roads,” he said, this time, in a phone interview. Iligan City is roughly 40 kilometres away from Marawi City. The mayor of Marawi City, Majul Gandamra, said that as of 8am, government forces have had control of the city. “I cannot say 100 per cent however that the Maute has already left,” reports quoted him as saying.

On Tuesday afternoon fighting erupted between government forces enforcing an arrest warrant for wanted Abu Sayyaf terrorist Isnilon Hapilon and members of the Maute.

The combined forces of the two militant groups set up roadblocks and blocked entrances to the city. A church and other buildings were burned while Maute snipers took positions. The fighting initially broke out in the villages of Caloocan and Basak Malatut, but it spread out to other parts of the city.