New beginnings for Marawi residents

Residents of Marawi began returning home yesterday, however gunshots can still be heard as armed forces scoured wrecked neighborhoods for remaining ISIS-inspired Maute fighters. (Photo: City Government of Marawi/Facebook)

After the Philippine government declared on Monday the end of the five-month Marawi siege, residents began returning home yesterday. However, gunshots can still be heard as the armed forces scoured wrecked neighborhoods for remaining ISIS-inspired Maute fighters.

Defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced on Monday that the battle that claimed more than 1,100 lives and left the eastern part of Marawi in ruins had finally come to an end following a final attack in a mosque where dozens of fighters were killed.

“After 154 days of siege in Marawi with Daesh-inspired Maute-ISIS group, after a week the commander-in-chief declared the liberation of Marawi City, we now announce the termination of combat operations in Marawi City,” Lorenzana told reporters.

The Maute members had occupied Marawi on May 23 in what President Rodrigo Duterte and security analysts said was a bid to build a Southeast Asian base for ISIS.

The campaign to drive them out turned into the country’s longest urban war, forcing about 400,000 residents to vacate their homes as militants defied near daily bombing raids through hiding in basements, tunnels, and mosques.

“We are afraid but we want to check on our houses,” Jamaliah Lomontong, a village official in her 40s, told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday as she, along with some relatives walked into their neighborhood near the area where the main fighting happened.

Lomontong said her house had survived but had been plundered.

“Anything easy to take away has gone – televisions, laptops,” she said.

On Tuesday morning, only a few dozen citizens could be spotted on the outlying districts of the mostly ruined eastern half of Marawi, where frequent gunshots and occasional blast could still be heard.

According to deputy commander of Marawi forces Colonel Romeo Brawner, the sounds of war did not mean there was renewed battle.

Brawner told Agence France-Presse that it is due to the armed forces who go through buildings looking for Maute fighters who may still be hiding, while soldiers were also setting off bombs that militants had planted.

“It’s possible that there were some (militants) left behind. In every war, that is the SOP (standard operating procedure),” Brawner said.

“So the firing is part of the mopping operations, because if there are holes, tunnels (in buildings), then the troops fire first into the hole before they check with their flashlights,” he added.

New life begins

Contrary to what happened in the eastern half of Marawi, hundreds of residents in the western half of the city, where a large number of civilians escaped the battle, began returning home.

“I feel a mixture of joy and sadness,” businessman Gonaranko Mapandi Jnr, 46, told Agence France-Presse as he stood close to a military checkpoint.

“I’m happy because we are able to return. But I’m very sad at what happened to my city.”

Some sari-sari stores or small shops selling daily household goods had reopened.

While some civilians are already returning home, the authorities said the military had yet to give the all-clear for Marawi residents to come home due to safety concerns.

According to local government officials and aid workers, large parts of the war-torn city would still be unsuitable for living in as a multi-billion-dollar rehabilitation program is expected to take years to complete.

Earlier, the Chief Executive has notified that even with the troops victory in Marawi, other militants may be hiding in neighboring cities or elsewhere in the southern Philippines and preparing for further attacks.

Head of the Philippine Red Cross’ operations for Marawi Eric Alarcon said many residents may never come home to the city because of security fears or maybe they would not be able to live in ruined neighborhoods.

“There are a lot of factors. Some are just afraid that this is just a brief peace. Afterwards, there will be fighting again. They don’t want their children to be affected,” Alarcon told Agence France-Presse.

“Others are looking for a new livelihood, a new business. Maybe they want a place where they can sustain their business,” he added.

Martial law was immediately declared by Duterte across the southern third of the Philippines after the battle in Marawi flared up. It has not been lifted despite the end of the clash.